Strange Places
by nutz104
Summary: A powerful artefact has been stolen, people are going missing and the Red Court of Vampires is on the move. When he's suddenly called before a Senior Council member, events spiral out of control to send Gabriel Crane hurtling towards a showdown with the Red Court and this time the stakes could not be higher. This story is set during and leading into the events of Changes.
1. Chapter 1

_**[Prologue]  
**_Another rainy day in London.  
As someone who's spent most of their life in the city, you'd think I'd be used to it by now. But each day seems worse than the one that came before. And some days, well, some days it feels like it'll never stop.  
Such is life I suppose.  
I'm not always so glum, just the past few years. When you've spent the last decade fighting a war against demons who wish you dead for just being who you are, then you'd have a few dark patches in the emotions department too. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself though. Let me start from the beginning.  
I'm a Wizard.  
Or to be more accurate, I'm a Warden for the White Council of Wizards. For the last ten years we've been in a war for our very survival against the Vampires of the Red Court. Both sides have suffered heavy losses during the course of this sustained conflict and officially we're in what you might class as a time out period. Six years ago the Vampires came close to wiping out the majority of us. A year later we repaid their actions in kind. Ever since things have been small scale; attacks here and there. When that happens, I'm the one they call in.  
Who am I?  
I'm Gabriel Crane.

_**[1]**_

Alarm bells ring and I open my eyes. I roll my head to the side to see Donald Duck staring back at me, his arms pointing to numbers telling me it was ten o'clock. Reaching over I flick the little switch on the side to stop the ringing.  
"Thanks Donald" I said as I push the bed covers off me in an effort to get up. As I sat up in bed I'm greeted in the mirror by the image of a man with dark, ruffled hair, stubble growing around his mouth and chin. Scars scattered across his torso and arms like battle trophies.  
I never looked good the morning after.  
I climbed out of bed and got dressed into a pair of jeans and a long sleeved top. As I slipped my feet into my socks and boots, a phone started ringing. I stepped out of my room into the rest of my flat.  
It was a small place. A large bookcase covered the furthest wall from the bedroom. It was the resting place for my collection of arcane writings, lore of mystical creatures, road maps and other such scribblings one in my profession might need. To the right of the bedroom's doorway sat a long couch – big enough to sit three people – that ran against the wall under a window with a view of Liverpool Street station. A fire place rested at the centre of the wall to the left, embers still smoking from the night before. And next to that was my favourite lazy boy chair. Perfect resting place to have a beer after a long day. Or long series of days that can sometimes be the case. And opposite the fire place was the apartment's front door. Sitting next to the bookcase rested a small wooden table mostly decorated in finely carved elven script. On top of that was the source of the constant ringing.  
An old fashioned rotary telephone that would be more at home in the nineteen seventies instead of this day and age. But it was simple and most importantly, it worked. You see technology and magic don't see eye to eye, the two forces fight constantly. But magic always wins and it always leaves technology broken.  
Which would be great if I ever found myself in a fight against a robot.  
The truth is that it's more of a hindrance. A Wizard can't stay in a hospital for more than five minutes before something would break down. So far I've been lucky. You don't want to be the _real_ reason for someone dying because their life support machine failed.  
You don't want that on your conscience.  
I staggered across the apartment and over to the small table. I lifted the handset from the receiver and placed it next to my ear.  
"_Sol solis ortus_?" spat a harsh male voice through the line.  
"Do we really have to do this every time?" I said in reply, a touch of frustration lacing my words.  
"_Sol solis ortus_?!" the voice said again, this time pouring a lot more authority into his tone.  
"Fine." I sighed, "_Luna cado_." I replied giving the correct pass code response. For those who are not in the know, that was Latin, the chosen tongue of the White Council. It's the language we use to communicate with each other while conducting official Council business. And they wonder why people are starting to think the Council is out dated.  
The line fell silent for a few seconds with the static filtering the line. Eventually the voice spoke once again in a sneering tone.  
"Your recent lack of protocol is beginning to worry me Warden Crane. Anyone would think that you do not take your responsibilities seriously."  
"That is far from the case Warden Glacier, I assure you." I answered.  
Marcus Glacier is the Warden Commander for the United Kingdom. Now don't get me wrong, as far as the Wardens are concerned, Marcus has years of experience on his side and a lot of battles under his belt. As far as everything else is concerned, the man is a complete arse. He is a man who knows he has authority and isn't afraid to throw it in your face. He'll use it to put you in line and display that everything is beneath him, including you. And this is the man who forces me to report to him every damn day as a constant reminder of his position.  
"You did not check in last night after your mission like I instructed you to." Marcus said, his tone carrying across his high and mighty attitude.  
"It had been a long day, I was tired and it was something that could've waited till morning."  
"You were told to inform me the second your orders were carried out."  
Frustration began filling up inside me. I did my best to keep a lid on it but not before some of it escaped into my words.  
"Fine, I fought some Vampires, I killed some Vampires. Mission accomplished. Happy now?"  
Despite the rhetorical tone accompanying my irritated words, Marcus felt inclined to snap an answer back.  
"Damn it Crane I am your Commander and you will show me some respect!"  
For a second my mouth bypassed my brain and carried on without me.  
"Well maybe if you weren't out there killing kids all day then maybe we'd be best fucking friends!"  
My emotions had gotten the best of me. They took control of my words and didn't hold back.  
As Wardens, we police the magic community, protecting people against those who would do them harm. But above all else we enforce the Seven Laws of Magic. Seven of the most unforgivable acts a practitioner could inflict on another living being. The past few years, Black magic had risen to very high levels and anyone found guilty of using Black magic, or violating any one of the Seven Laws were sentence to death. And it was the Wardens who are charged with delivering the final judgement. More often than not the offenders were kids, teenagers at the oldest, people who didn't know any better because they were never given a choice. Or even knew that they had one. Kids who had no idea there were Laws for magic, because nobody had told them that they even existed. Instead of taking these kids and teaching them, the Council condemned them to death.  
This was something I had a big problem with.  
But regardless of my feelings towards that, from Marcus' point of view, I had just crossed the line. Even though he was silent for a second or two, I could sense the anger building to its peak, about to erupt.  
"That's the final straw Crane," he spat, "Your attitude will not be tolerated any longer. If it was not for the fact that a member of the Senior Council already wished to speak to you, I would be contacting them immediately about your actions."  
"The Council wish to see me?" I said, voice full of surprise.  
"Yes" he said sternly, "It was the initial reason for me contacting you in the first place. If you had followed orders and reported in after your mission like you were told, then maybe you would be a little more prepared for the meeting."  
"Why do they wish to speak to me?"  
"They did not say. They only said that they would meet you at the first appointed Council meeting place, midday. But rest assured, I _will_ make sure that your blatant disrespect for your superiors will be amongst the things to be discussed."  
With his last word said, he hung up. I placed the headset back on its cradle.  
"Well that went well." I said to myself. I walked back into my room and looked at Donald. His arms told me that it was now ten to eleven.  
The first Council meeting place. That sounds a lot more prestigious than it actually is. There is something that we, in the supernatural community, abide by known as the Unseelie Accords. It's basically a set of agreements (like the Geneva Conventions) that govern behaviour between its signatories, who are the major powers of the magical world. The Accords include protocols for etiquette, hospitality, formal duels, and neutral ground, among other things. There are some places referred to as Accorded Neutral Ground; basically places where all signatories of the Accords theoretically agree to refrain from violence, thus serving as a good place to meet and conduct negotiations.  
I don't know what would happen to someone should they decided to break an agreement made under the Accords. Needless to say, I am not eager to find out.  
What really worried me was the fact that a member of the Senior Council wanted to see me in person. The Senior Council is a collection of the most powerful Wizards in the world and when they make it a point to come and see you, then don't be surprised if something big is about to do down. Also, they don't like to be kept waiting. So I called for a cab, grabbed my black, hooded leather jacket from its resting place on the lazy boy chair and left for the meeting.


	2. Chapter 2

_**[2]  
**_On a hot summer's day Hyde Park is a lively place covered in greenery, full of people playing and children laughing. On a day like this however, it looked more like a marsh surrounded by concrete and cars. Getting closer to midday, the city was gearing up for the lunch time rush. Horns sounded from every direction as cars cluttered the roads; pedestrians marched the streets at quickened paces, trying to in vain to escape the sky's watery assault. In the centre of that city based chaos was my destination, the Marble Arch. For most it was a tourist attraction, for a few it was a place to meet and discuss things in secret, away from spying eyes and prying ears.  
I hopped out of the cab and hurried to the central arch, trying in vain to stop myself getting any wetter. Once out of the rain I lowered my hood and looked around to make sure no one was watching me. Checking that the coast was clear I placed my right hand at the centre of the central arch's left hand wall. I sent out a little of my will, my magical energy, through my hand and mutter quietly "_Odael Var_".  
Now if you don't know what that language is, it's the language of the Elves. You see magic comes from within, so first of all you have to believe in it otherwise it won't work. To work a spell you need to visualise it, shape it with your mind. But by doing that you are also opening your mind to the forces of reality. To help shield a Wizards mind they associate a word or phrase with spell they are trying to perform. It has to be something unfamiliar to the Wizard, some language they don't know so they can focus on it while pulling those energies together. It can't be something you're used to speaking or it's going to fail, and then you are going to have the worst headache of your life for about a week. Some people use Spanish, French or even Egyptian. Me, I use Elvish because, well let's face it, it sounds pretty frigging cool.  
If it worked for Aragorn, then why can't it work for me?  
I muttered the words and the energy flowed out of me and into the wall. Dust started to fall as a small section of the central arch's wall began to move and open revealing an alcove with a ladder leading up into the upper section of the structure. As I began to climb, I could hear the wall start to close back in on itself, leaving me in near darkness with only a small single sliver of light twinkling above me. I could hear footsteps coming from higher up, at least three different sets, one of which was pacing back and forth, and sounding nervous, agitated, like the wait was terrifying them.  
He must be new to the Wardens.  
I reached the top of the ladder, secured my balance and with a little effort, pushed against the ceiling of the alcove, lifting the door leading to the upper room. As it began to give way, light flooded down into the alcove and into my eyes, blinding me momentarily. I continued upwards as my eyes adjusted to the brightness, to find myself half emerged into an antique office staring up at two silver swords pointed directly at my face.  
"Jeez fellas, thanks for making me feel welcome." I said, staring up at two men, their grey Warden's robes draped over their shoulders. Simultaneously they withdrew their blades and sheaved them, letting their robes fall over their arms, hiding them from view. I recognised them as soon as my vision returned, by face if not by name. They often accompanied members of the Senior Council as bodyguards whenever they were out in the open.  
Granted, the Senior Council is compiled of seven of the most powerful Wizards in the world so they can look after themselves, but I guess it's always nice to have someone watching your back.  
I climbed up and into the room proper, closing the door to the ladder behind me. The room looked as if time had stood still, stuck in time since its erection in the Victorian era. Finely hand crafted wooden chairs sat in a row of three at the far end, next to the wall. The two Warden bodyguards stood like silent statues, never letting me out of their gaze. Their robes hung from broad shoulders, concealing their bodies and weapons from view. I got the distinct impression that these guys didn't like me. But maybe that was just me.  
Thick, elaborately sown carpets lay across the floor, covering and hiding the door leading down to the ladder. In fact if you didn't know the trapdoor was there, you would never know to look for it. Following the carpet along the floor lead my field of vision to a nervous looking figure, eyes wide and anxious, his features shifting from fear to confusion to caution in the space of half a second. His Warden's robe hung off him like it was two sizes too big.  
God, he barely looked twenty. Were things really so bad with the Wardens that we're having to recruit people so young? The Wardens are supposed to be the fighting force of the White Council, but what good are we if we're mostly comprised of kids who have never even cast a defensive spell let alone seen actual combat.  
Past him sat a dark oak table displaying yet more examples of intricate designs that could have only been carved by hand. Resting his elbows on the desk sat the man who had convened this little meeting.  
Senior Council member, Ebenezar McCoy.  
A short stocky man, white tuffs of hair fringed his mostly bald head and a white beard covered his mouth and jowls. His skin had a tanned, almost leathery look, no doubt from all of his years working on his farm in his robes and the purple stole of the Senior Council covered up what I knew to be his usual white tee-shirt and denim overalls.  
"You took your time kid," he said, a hint of sarcasm lacing his speech. "What took you so long? Not want to get your hair wet?"  
I smiled and replied "When you have hair this good you don't want to spoil it. I would ask if you know how that feels but I'm sure you can't remember that far back."  
He let out a stifled laugh before his features changed, settling into a far more serious frame.  
"Marcus really isn't very happy with you. He was doing everything but demanding that action be taken against you for insubordination. Captain Luccio managed to calm him down but he's still not happy." Luccio was the Warden's leader, well tested, well respected and one of the deadliest fighters that I'd ever witnessed in action.  
"We've spoken about this Gabe." McCoy looked at me with stern eyes. I met his gaze with equal intent without breaking eye contact.  
A power that all Wizards have is something called a Soulgaze. A meeting of the eyes that transforms into a highly personalized and revealing look at the other person's psyche and soul, and one of the reasons why people instinctively don't look deep into a Wizard's eyes. It is an immediate way to identify someone or something flawlessly and whatever you see during a Soulgaze stays with you. Good, bad or downright terrifying, no matter what, it's yours for keeps; permanently etched into your memory. Thankfully it's something that only happens the once, afterwards you can stare into that person's eyes for as long as you like and nothing will happen.  
McCoy had demanded that I Soulgaze with him a long time ago. It was just after my first year as a Warden, not long after he was voted onto the Senior Council now I actually think about it. He said that it was the only way to know for certain who was worth trusting.  
I guess I passed inspection.  
"Marcus is an arsehole!" I snapped back in response, causing McCoy's gaze to take on a steely glint.  
"You might be right," he challenged me, "but he's also your immediate superior. Why don't you tell me what's really eating you Gabe?" I took a deep breath and forced myself to keep my cool.  
"I'm out there risking my life for the safety of the Council," I said, trying hard to keep the frustration I had from boiling up into my voice. "I'm trying to make sure that the Vampires don't kill any more of us than they already have. Yet how many judgement executions have Marcus and the other Warden's in the UK carried out in the last three months alone?"  
McCoy quickly broke eye contact, staring past me first, before looking down at the desk.  
"I can't recall the number," he replied in a reluctant voice, as if the words themselves didn't want to leave his mouth. That in itself was weird. Ebenezar McCoy was a man who stood by his decisions with the stubbornness of a mule, regardless of whether people agreed with him or not. For him to respond in a manner of retreat, almost shame, there was definitely something going on.  
"Don't use the company line with me Ebenezar," I shot back "How many?"  
He once again met my gaze, his eyes saddened yet somehow maintaining some form of anger about the subject.  
"Fourteen." He said. His features twisted as if the words had left a sour and unpleasant taste in his mouth.  
"Fourteen," I repeated. "While I'm out there trying to stop the Red Court, the Council itself is doing the job for them."  
"You're starting to sound like someone else I know. He's not a big fan of trying convicted Black Magic users either."  
"Well maybe this guy has a point. I mean I know not everyone can be saved, but are we even trying anymore? Why am I trying to save and protect the Council if they're not interested in trying to save themselves?"  
The room fell silent. I could feel the eyes to the two Wardens on me, trying to burn me with glares of disapproval. What would they know anyway? They were just guard dogs not allowed to think for themselves, concerned only with the protection of the man they escorted, everything else was outside of their notice.  
The nervous Warden standing in front of me by McCoy regarded me with what seemed to be a sympathetic gaze. I noticed him trying to keep his expression neutral, remaining impartial to the topic of conversation. Seeing as how he seemed to be new to the Wardens, I can only imagine he was trying to conceal his opinions from the others.  
"Listen kid," Ebenezar said, breaking the tension, "I know things seem bad right now, believe me I know, but some of us are trying to get things back on track. I need you to trust me and I need you to deal with something important. I'm coming to you because there are fewer and fewer people who have the ability and the skills to handle the current situation and even fewer still that I trust."  
Wow.  
I've never known McCoy to be a man of many words, but for him to have said something like that, things must really be bad.  
I let out a quiet sigh, shook my head and said, "What's going on?"  
"Tell me kid, what do you know about Icarus?"  
I cocked an eyebrow confused but answered the question anyway.  
"Icarus used wax to make wings but then made the mistake of flying too close to the sun. It's one of the greatest epic fails in Greek mythology. What's that got to do with anything?"  
"Well," he said as he rose up out of the chair and started to move around the desk towards me. "The Vampires have in their possession a powerful artefact known as the Icarus Charm. From what we've been able to figure out this charm was given its name because it's said that whoever has possession of it will be free from the sun's wrath."  
I looked at him momentarily shocked, trying to process this new information.  
"So you're saying that this charm..."  
"The Icarus Charm," McCoy interrupted, "has the power to make the Vampires immune to sunlight."  
"That's not possible," I exclaimed, "If an item that powerful existed, it would have surfaced a lot sooner than this. Plus surely the Council would have known about it and tried to seize it before anyone else caught wind of it."  
Ebenezar leaned back and rested on the edge of the wooden desk, looking at me, his features twisting in contempt.  
"It does exist and the Council did know about it but..." his sentence trailed off slightly as if he was trying to find the right words to use. "...It was stolen from us; things aren't right with the Council at the moment Gabe. Being truthful it was only by luck that we found out about the Icarus Charm when we did. What with everything that's going on..."  
"What do you mean, what's happening?" I said, interrupting Ebenezar mid sentence.  
He took a deep breath, his expression once again displaying a discontented emotion.  
"We've been losing Wizards left and right over the last day or so. Senior Councillor Cristos called the whole Council into session, you weren't there because of your recent missions against the Red Court. Cristos called for a truce with the Vampires and as such invited Arianna Ortega to speak on their behalf."  
"He did what?" I said somewhat surprised and shocked. Duchess Ortega was a major power player in the Red Court, the daughter of the Red King himself and wherever she went, back handed tactics, shadowy mind games and usually death followed.  
"Ortega is preaching for peace," McCoy continued. "She believes this war has gone on long enough and it's time we tried to settle things amicably."  
"Please tell me no one believes her?"  
"Well Cristos has a lot of supporters who are backing his and Ortega's call for peace. A few more groups were possibly considering it until Warden Dresden stormed in, but that's another story. We've got Wardens going missing, eight in total according to reports. It's been noticed that the missing Wardens were very vocal in their distrust of the peace talks, but I've got people looking into that. Plus there seems to be some type of illness going around the Council. So far only a handful people are sick but we've got our best healers at work trying to stem the tide."  
I stood there in shock for moment, unsure of what to say. Could things really be this bad?  
"What is the Senior Council going to do about Cristos? I mean surely the Council doesn't believe Arianna Ortega is really an ambassador for peace."  
"Crying out loud Gabe," Ebenezar spat. "Of course we don't. The Merlin wants to wait and make the Vampires tip their hand, forcing them to attack and expose their vulnerabilities, so we can wipe them out. As for Cristos, well the Senior Council is backing away from him, giving him room to hang himself."  
I ran my hands through my hair, letting them rest on the back of my neck, trying hard to process the tumult of information. The Merlin was the leader of the White Court, a tradition that reportedly went back to the days of King Arthur's court and was widely regarded as the most powerful Wizard on the planet, but he was playing a very risky game, a game that could cost a lot Wizards their lives if it didn't play I started to pace back and forth, arranging my thoughts out loud.  
"There are two sides to this. If the Merlin is using this as an opportunity to see if the Vampires will trip up, who's to say the Red Court aren't doing the same thing. And if so, they are going to want something to tip the balance in their favour. They're going to want this Icarus Charm and if it does what you say it can, they would be able to attack us when we least expect it."  
"Which is why it is important that you find it and get it back under lock and key!" Ebenezar said, passion and urgency reverberating in his tone.  
"But what makes you think it's in London?" I asked.  
McCoy took in a deep breath before answering.  
"Honestly? We don't know for sure that it is," he said. "At the moment it's purely speculation. Our scouts have reported sightings of Red Court Vampires heading south from Scotland, but with the Council being based in Edinburgh it feels like too much of a coincidence for them to be spotted so soon after the Charm was stolen. Plus London has a well known Red Court cross over point into the NeverNever, we've got people watching it, so far they haven't made a move towards it. By now they've surely reached London, but we've got no idea where they are."  
I stood there for a moment not saying a word, just thinking, processing. The Nevernever is the spirit world. It exists alongside our own as a sort of an alternate dimension but its shape is not the same as the mortal world; in fact its shape is always changing, slowly warping. The Nevernever touches the Mortal world in places where they have something in common, a resonance of energies if you want to get all magically technical; with the right knowledge and know how, a person can open a path to the Nevernever from where it over lapses our world and use it to travel quickly between crossover points. Because of how misaligned our world is with the spirit world, you could theoretically enter the Nevernever in, say London, walk two hundred yards, then cross back over and end up in Sydney Australia. It really helps to keep the travelling expenses in check and considering how magic and technology react to each other, it's generally a lot safer for a Wizard to use then say, a plane.  
Of course there's no danger of a nightmare monster snatching you from your path on a plane.  
"Ok," I began, "so if you have something as important as the Icarus Charm then you're not going to want people knowing about it. You won't want to draw attention to yourself, so crossing over to the NeverNever when you know people are watching would be a bad idea. So instead you will want to lay low, wait for a more opportune time, when those watching have to look away." I said, allowing my train of thought to run free down its track. "But these are Red Court Vampires, they're predators. They will need to feed and no matter how much they want to lay low, their very nature won't let them, at least not for very long. And when they need to feed, people will start to go missing."  
I turned and knelt down, reaching for the trapdoor.  
"I'll check with one of my contacts, see if that sheds any light on the matter." I said, pulling up the door and revealing the ladder leading down. I started to slowly climb down when McCoy called out.  
"Gabe," he said. "Watch your back. This is a possible game changer and the Vampires will not give up the charm without a fight."  
Smiling I said, "But fighting Vampires is what I do best."  
I didn't wait to get a response and started climbing down the ladder.  
The Icarus Charm. If it does what it says on the tin, then this artefact could be what gives the Red Court victory in this war. They could attack us at any time, day or night. We would have to be on watch constantly, be prepared at all times and with the Icarus Charm, the Vampires could play the long game. Just because we're Wizards, doesn't mean we don't get tired. The longer it goes on for, fatigue will set in and then mistakes will happen. In this kind of situation, one mistake is all it takes to get everyone killed. I needed to find this thing and fast. I couldn't let the Vampires leave the city with it but in order to stop them I needed to know where they were and to know that I needed to follow the signs.  
I just had to hope that I could do it in time.


	3. Chapter 3

_**[3]  
**_After I left the meeting, the weather had decided enough was enough and gave us mere mortals a break from the constant bombardment of rain. The sky looked to be clearing up for hopes of a mild afternoon. I made a call to someone I who thought could help. We arranged to meet an hour later near Embankment Pier, which was fine by me as it would take nearly forty five minutes to walk there. Yeah taking the train would take a fraction of the time but then you're dipping into the realms of magic verses technology again. That in itself would be inconvenient, but I knew the types of creatures that live in the dark places of the London Underground and I didn't particularly want to be trapped in a malfunctioning metal tube, in the darkest parts of the Underground network with those things all round me.  
You can call me paranoid if you want, but that doesn't mean there's not an angry creature wanting to eat my face off.  
Besides, the walk would do me some good. Let me think about the situation and the problems I'll no doubt be facing soon enough. This had to be the boldest move the Red Court had made since they pushed us back and followed us into the NeverNever six years ago. An attack that nearly wiped out the White Council. To actually break into the Council's supposedly most secure area and steal the Icarus Charm right out from under their collective noses.  
That's big balls boldness right there.  
But knowing the Red Court like I do, I couldn't say I was surprised that they seized such an opportunity. I mean it's not every day that one of the big brass of the Vampire nations wants to talk peace in their enemy's stronghold, their place of power. It's the type of power play that the aggressors hope would put their adversary's on the back step, giving them time and space to plan and make their next move.  
And that's why I'd been called in. I'm the guy who stops the Vampires from making their next move.  
I made my way across London, ignoring the chaos of city life, lost in my thoughts, heading towards Embankment pier, another good place to meet people. You see magic is disrupted by running water and the Thames is a pretty big supply of running water. It's why you never heard of any real ghost sightings or hauntings by rivers. The greenery and trees running along the pier's walls helped make the area stand out from other parts of the city's centre. Like Hyde Park it showed that London isn't just a city of concrete and steel and glass. That nature still existed and was allowed to thrive.  
I leaned against the wall overlooking the river, resting on my forearms, taking in the sights. Across the water the London Eye stood tall, slowly showing people the wonders of the city from up high as it rotated in a big circle. Down below different kinds of boats drifted up and down the river, some carrying people enjoying an afternoon boat ride, some carrying goods from one end of the city to the other and some that I just didn't have a clue about but looked like they had somewhere important to be. I honestly don't know how long I was standing there, just looking out over the water. It was kinda peaceful just watching the world go by, the water lapping against the embankment. It was nice knowing that even with all the crazy and all the crap happening, there was still proof that life went on, despite magical beings trying to kill each other.  
Like I said, crazy.  
"Penny for your thoughts." A voice said from behind me which almost immediately snapped me out of my reverie.  
I looked around to see a woman dressed in a white blouse that was covered by a smart black suit jacket, comfortable light blue denim jeans and sensible shoes. Mousey brown hair framed soft features and hung unrestrained over her shoulders.  
"Hey Lou, thanks for meeting me."  
Louise Wheeler was one of my oldest and closest friends. We grew up together. You know, chasing each other around the playground, sleeping at each other's house, the whole nine yards. She was someone who I could count on and trust no matter what. She was also a Detective Chief Inspector with the London Metropolitan Police, which helped if I needed any information.  
It's not what you know it's who you know.  
"To be honest it's nice to get out of the station and get some fresh air," she replied. "It beats sitting at my desk filing reports."  
"Fresh air in London?" I said in a mildly mocking manner. "Sure, I mean if you don't mind it laced heavily with diesel fumes and cigarette smoke, there's plenty of fresh air to be had."  
She smiled and displayed some of the sexiest dimples I'd ever seen. Regardless of what people say, we never had the whole 'will they, won't they' kind of relationship. When we were old enough I guess you could say that our friendship went to the next level. We started dating and seeing each other in a more intimate fashion and then magic happened.  
Actual magic.  
Not the foofoo type you get in romance novels when everything is '_perfect_'. I accidentally set her bedside lamp on fire, which under different circumstances, would have been pretty spectacular. At first it scared the crap out of us, especially me. Somehow I knew it was me, that I had caused the fire but I just didn't how or why. We put the lamp out and reasoned the whole thing down to really bad wiring. Later I found out that I could use magic and that I was going to be trained to become a Wizard – but that's for another story. Discovering that I could do magic, for me it was amazing, the feeling that I had become a part of something so much bigger than myself and, not to sound too cliché, make a real difference.  
Louise however felt a little differently about the whole thing.  
Seeing how close we were, I told her everything. About how I could use magic, how I could bend the essence of life and creation to my will and that great things were in store for me. She tried to understand, she really did. We continued seeing each other for another year or so but Louise couldn't take it any longer. She could see that the more I was being pulled into the world of magic the further I was moving away from her. She told me that she couldn't live in that world, that it held no place for her. It was sad and upsetting but she was right. We both agreed to step back from our romantic involvement but vowed that we would always be there for each other, that we would always be friends.  
It was the right thing to do.  
Doesn't mean it don't hurt like hell.  
"I'm sure you didn't call me out here just to mock me," she said, "What's up?"  
Louise walked over to stand to the right of me and mirrored my stance, leaning against the wall resting on her forearms.  
"I'm working a case," I said turning my head to keep her in view. "And I need some information. So I thought you might be able to help me."  
She said nothing for a couple seconds and just stared out over the river. After a moment Louise slowly turned her body towards me, still leaning against the wall using her right hand to support her weight.  
"This case you're working, it wouldn't happen to be anything out of the ordinary would it?" she asked. I don't know if I was imagining it or not, but I thought I could detected a little annoyance in her tone.  
"If by that you mean is it of a supernatural nature? Then I would have to say yes."  
As soon as I answered I could feel an uneasiness wash other Louise. She sighed and resumed her mirrored stance.  
"Christ Gabe," she sighed again. "I've told you before that I can't get involved with that part of your life. I just can't"  
"I know Lou. It's not something that I wanted to come to you with," I said, trying to reassure her. "But without going into too much detail, if I don't deal with this situation quickly**,** then it could be the end of everything that I swore to protect."  
I kept quiet for a second longer than needed in between sentences, just to let my point sink in.  
"I know the truth," I said trying to sound as gentle as I could. "I know that you don't understand the world that I have to live and fight in and because of that it scares you. Hell, it scares the crap out of me on a good day. The first time you told me that you couldn't get involved I said ok but I truly didn't understand why. I mean the things I could do and could achieve, not in my wildest dreams did I ever think this would happen to me."  
I stopped for a second to catch my breath and turned to fully face Louise. Placing my left hand on hers, I squeezed it gently.  
"After these past few years, doing what I've had to do, I finally understand why you couldn't be part of that life. And to be honest I don't really want you anywhere near it. The things I've seen, the things I've done, you should never have to go through that. But this is different, this is bigger than me and it's bigger than you. Lives are depending on me and so I have to do the one thing I promised not to do, I have to ask for your help, I have to ask you to get involved."  
I felt like a bastard for even asking this of her but I wasn't lying. Without her help I wouldn't be able to catch up to the Vampires in time. Neither of us said anything for a couple of minutes. Louise continued looking out over the river and I kept my focus on her, trying to get a read on her thoughts. I could see the conflict in her eyes, the willingness to help me battling furiously with the fear of getting in too deep and finding herself in way over her head. While this was going on I said nothing. I didn't push her for an answer. I just stood beside her with my hand on hers, trying my hardest to reassure her with my presence.  
"Ok," she signed after a long silence. "What do you need?"  
"I need to find out if there have been any suspicious increases of missing person reports," I explained keeping things calm and simple. I was really relieved when she agreed to help me despite everything, but jumping for joy in giddy delight was really not the best idea considering the huge emotional hurdle that Louise just cleared. "Anything going back forty eight hours to now."  
"Why do you want to know about missing persons?" She asked.  
"Because they might lead me to what I'm trying to find."  
Louise nodded slowly once and then said "Seven o'clock, the usual steak house in Leicester Square, dinner is on you. We'll go through what I find and you can tell me everything."  
As she started walking away I spoke up a little confused. "Everything?"  
Louise turned back and gave me a little smile as she replied. "Yeah, everything. I mean the more you tell me, the better I can help you find whatever it is that you're looking for."  
Well…That I didn't see coming.  
I returned the smile and Louise went off to find me the answers I needed. I couldn't help it but I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Of all the bombs dropped on me today, I could at least be happy about that one. My closet friend was willing to step outside her comfort zone and help me.  
If everything else went to hell, I could at least call that a victory.


	4. Chapter 4

_**[4]**_

Meeting Lou at seven meant that I had a few hours to kill. And by that I meant prepare. It doesn't matter what kind of situation you have to deal with, if you are not prepared then you are going to look like an arse. I took the time to head back to my flat to gather some things I was certain I would be useful. Traffic around the city seemed to be busier than usual which slowed me down frustratingly.  
I knew I had time to spare, but that didn't mean I wanted to spend most of that time sitting in the back of a cab watching the meter go up. But seeing as I wasn't going anywhere, it was probably a good time to slow myself down and actually think about what I was up against. Red Court Vampires were probably the fiercest out of all the courts. They were super strong, scarily quick and extremely violent. They pretty much ruled most of South America and they had '_people_' (I use the term lightly) in seats of varying power around the world.  
Politicians with a very dark side.  
Think Emperor Palpatine, only less lightsabers and more fangs.  
But seriously they had their fingers in almost everything. Bribing police, paying off city officials, all to have them looking the other way whenever they asked. It makes the particularly public targets trickier to take down.  
The thing is I know how to take down Vampires; I'd been doing it long enough that I'd picked up a trick or two of my own, but if they had the Icarus Charm in their possession then the balance of power had shifted and in the worst way possible. I didn't know what this artefact could do or what it was capable of. McCoy essentially told me that it could protect the wearer from the effects of the sun. I understood that. The Vampires could walk around without having to apply sunscreen, or burning to a crisp. Some of the more ancient Vampires of the Red Court, like the Red King, could already stand in the sunlight thanks to full body skin masks. The masks doubled up to help them look like any normal human being and hide the monsters they actually were. So the real questions were, is that all the Charm could do? Was there a small print somewhere that nobody knew about? And how would they pass that power on to the rest of the court? I had a lot of questions but no answers. Trying to prepare while having a few unknowns hanging around in the air never usually leads to anywhere good.  
I finally got back to my building and told the cabby to wait outside while I went up to pick up what I needed. It didn't take me long as I always kept my magical tools in a grey rucksack beside my front door, ready for an easy collection. Just as I was locking up I noticed a shift of movement out of the corner of my eye. Quickly I spun on my heel, gathering up my will. I raised my right hand, ready to unleash my power when a cold realisation hit home.  
I wouldn't have the chance.  
As I spun around I found myself staring at the hideous, monstrous form of a Red Court Vampire. Its bat like head leading the rest of its slimy black leathery body, a tongue snaked out from a mouth that had pealed back to flash razor sharp teeth. The beast swung one of its huge claws at me, catching me on my right shoulder. I managed to role with the blow but it felt like being hit by a wrecking ball and the impact sent me soaring halfway down the corridor and tumbling several more feet as I hit the ground. My shoulder was on fire, hot pain spread up to my neck and down my arm as I tried to get my legs back under me. Sometime between flying through the air and hitting the ground I had let go of my bag. Scanning around me, I quickly spotted it on the floor about half way between me and the growling Vampire. '_Mr Happy_' snarled as it rushed towards me, blindingly quick, once again revealing its fangs. It leaped into the air, rage and anger fuelling its every move, attempting to come down on top of me. I waited until the last second before rolling forward, letting the creature sail over me, carried by its own momentum. I managed to follow the roll through and came back up on my feet, racing towards my backpack. I heard the Vampire land with a thump behind me but I didn't look back. I kept my focus on getting to my bag. It snarled once again, being fuelled by an all-consuming rage. I reached my rucksack, dropped to one knee and began to fumble around inside, trying desperately to find something to fight back with. I finally looked back at my attacker to see that it had recovered and was starting another charge. It came at me with such deadly speed and power, nothing but my destruction would satisfy the bloodlust in its eyes. It got closer and closer, using all the power in its legs and arms to speed its way towards me. The beast leaped into the air, like a lion pouncing on its prey. I found what I was looking for, took a firm hold and withdrew it from my bag. It was a wooden Eskrima, a martial arts fighting weapon, about two feet long, different types of magical runes and sigils were carved along its shaft. I gripped it tightly in my right hand, gathering my will as I drew it level with my target. Pain flared up and spread across my shoulder with the harsh and sudden movement. With the Vampire a few inches away I unleashed my will and roared "_Vilya_!"  
A solid column of air shot out from the end of my rod hitting the creature square in the face like a sledgehammer. The attack cancelled any forward momentum the Vampire had in the air and sent it flying backwards. In fact the spell had had more power to it than I had originally intended as the beast flew the length of the hallway and impacted against the opposite wall, smashing the window and getting itself wedged into the newly created hole. Rising to my feet, I reached into the bag and retrieved another wooden rod of similar size and dropped the bag on the floor. With a rod in each hand, I spun them around, quickly making sure I had the balance right for each and then started charging towards the trapped Vampire.  
Usually you don't want to get in close when fighting Vampires, but I was pissed. This thing had attacked me, but not only that, it had done so outside my home. I wanted to destroy it, make it pay. Send a message to any other Vampires watching, come after me, attack _me_, attack my home and you will die. I quickly picked up speed, closing the gap as my attacker struggled to free himself from the wall. As I ran, I drew in my will, gathering it in, readying it for my next spell. When I was just outside the creatures reach, I stretched my right arm out behind me, pain flaring through my shoulder the whole time, and jumped into the air. As I lifted off the floor I once again released my will shouting "_Vilya Alakien_!"  
A rush of wind roared from the end of my eskrima propelling me forward toward the Vampire who had dared attack me. I shot onward and at the last second before impact I released another spell shouting, "_Tinechor_!"  
The air in front of me hardened into a domed shield of white swirling light and then I collided with the son of a bitch. The built up momentum meant that I hit the beast like a train and the sheer force of the impact sent us both flying through what was left of the wall and out into nothing but a five-story free-fall. In that moment, crashing through the wall, everything seemed to slow down and stop. We both hung in the air as our momentum battled with gravity, glass and debris from the wall scattered out around us. Gravity won the fight and we soon found ourselves starting to descend, literally falling out of the sky.  
This was going to hurt.  
The Vampire started to fall away from me, swinging and flailing its arms in a futile gesture, anything to prevent it from plummeting to the ground below. Meanwhile I did everything I could to keep my focus on my shielding spell, trying to build up and maintain as many flexible layers as I could. If I kept the shield as solid as it had been when I used it against the Vampire then it wouldn't matter if I had the shield up or not, the impact from the fall would still kill me. I needed to make the protective barrier more malleable but strong enough to protect me, and the more layers of that protection there were, the more likely it was that I would possibly survive. That was the theory anyway. The reality of it was that it required a lot of energy and a lot of focus and concentration. And I have to say it's kind of hard to concentrate when you're falling from five stories up with an enraged Vampire hell bent on trying to kill you. The energy to maintain the spell however was not a problem. Emotions are powerful tools when it comes to magic and casting spells and right now I was burning with hate and anger, two very potent emotions. I drew upon all my hate for this creature and upon all my anger and I used it, channelled it into my shielding. But there was a problem with my plan. If I survived the fall, I would have the as-for-mentioned enraged Vampire – who would most likely endure a five story free fall – still hell bent on killing me, and able to finish the job while I was trying to recover.  
What a glamorous life I lead.  
Then it dawned on me; with the attack and everything going on, I had forgotten one rather important fact. It was still the middle of the day.  
As if by some divine intervention, the clouds parted and the sun shone down upon us. I could feel the warmth first on my back and then slowly spreading all over me. Realisation hit the Vampire like a right hook to the jaw as its black empty eyes opened wide with fear. Its dark leathery skin started to sizzle and smoulder and then with no other warning, the thing burst into flames. Bits of it began to fall apart. A screech of fear and desperation filled the air as the smoke coming from the beast all but blinded me, making it hard to see the ground rushing up to meet me. The creature's scream faded into nothing as the flames engulfed it completely, breaking down its physical body into ash. Falling fast, I hit the ash cloud of the Vampire's remains, my shield saving me from getting a face full of the stuff. I passed through the haze of residue and with only half a second of warning, crashed down onto the roof of a parked car. Instinctively I pulled my knees up to my chest and curled myself into a ball as the outer layer of my shielding impacted, smashing the poor car's roof. There was a sharp shriek of condensing metal as layer upon layer of my protective shell crashed down, each coating bursting under the pressure of gravity. And in another half second it was all over. There was nothing but silence and pain. I don't remember how long it took me to move, but somehow I managed to drag myself out of the wreckage of what was once somebody's car and my body screamed. Pain flooded nearly all of my senses and I could feel it everywhere, or nearly everywhere. My left arm hung limply to my side, devoid of all feeling and sensation. Groggily I looked back over what had been my crash site. The impact had completely totalled the thing, reducing the vehicle to a quarter of its original height. The roof was caved in; glass from smashed windows littered the street, mixed in with all the debris and rubble from the buildings wall. People had gathered around, some trying to find out what all the commotion was about, others having seen the upheaval of their daily routine and trying to help. Through my haze I could just about make out the crowd, make out the vague shapes of people saying things to me but I couldn't understand them. Their words sounding nothing like the voice of a normal person but instead of someone submerged in water. More and more shapes surrounded me, the spinning in my head threatened to consume me and then suddenly my pain stopped.  
Everything went black.


	5. Chapter 5

_**[5]**_

Pain jolted through my left shoulder and I woke up swearing.  
Ok, I felt pain. Up side, I was alive. Down side, that fucking hurt.  
Slowly my vision came back to me through the painful haze and I found myself in what looked like a large stock room. The room was poorly lit, but I could see a series of grey shelves, about six feet tall, stood to attention in neat rows. Each of the five sets of shelves full of different types of items, most of which I couldn't quite make out from my current position. I was laying on an old fold out cot that had waved farewell to its more comfortable days decades ago. A sweet smell registered next, lofting over me from close by. Looking around I could just make out a work table about ten feet away with some kind of pink looking liquid bubbling away in a beaker set up over a Bunsen burner. A quick burst of pain screamed from my shoulder snapping up all my attention and throwing it at the person causing me great discomfort. He was a brutish sort of man with the rough features of a long and harsh life. His hair was very short to the point of being nearly clean shaven and his nose slightly crooked from maybe one too many hits to the face. He was frowning in deep concentration as he applied some kind of ointment onto my bare shoulder and then it suddenly hit me; I was topless.  
"Don't move!" he said in a true east London cockney tone. "You dislocated ya shoulder. I set it back in place and this stuff'll keep the swelling and bruising down."  
"Jeez Reggie, any one ever tell you your bed side manner really sucks?"  
"Stop bloody moaning," he replied unimpressed as he continued to apply his salve. "Me ex-wives piss and moan less than you do. And I got three of 'em!"  
Reggie rubbed the last of his cream onto my shoulder a little harder than he needed to, but I'll be damned if it wasn't good stuff. I could barely notice any swelling and the bruises were almost invisible. I followed the '_doctor_'s' orders and stayed where I was, lying on the world's most uncomfortable cot. Reggie rose from his stool and wondered over to the work bench with the boiling liquid and began to give it a stir. I'd known Reggie for a few years now. He was a good go-to-guy when you needed information on what was happening around the city. It was because he had his fingers in so many natural and supernatural pies that I was always left wondering just how he kept himself alive – but then again, they do say that knowledge is power. Whilst Reggie isn't a Wizard he more than makes up for it by being arguably the best potion maker in the city; I think that's why he knows what he knows, everyone comes to him for a potion. The Council know of him but somehow Reggie has been able to keep them from knowing too much about him. He gives me a discount on products to keep me from spilling the beans to the Council so I have no incentive to tell them anything. He was very good at what he does.  
"Ya lucky I was already coming to see you," Reggie said as he continued to stir his latest concoction. "Was just walking across the street to ya building when you and the Fanger did ya bloody swan dive out the window."  
Amazingly I kept forgetting how unbelievably cockney Reggie was. And when I say cockney, I'm talking cockney rhyming slang, the over excessive hand gestures and head movements, the works. At around six foot seven, he was a big guy, well built, the type of person you wouldn't like to meet in a dark alley late at night. But then you hear him talk and it's hard to not think of Derek Trotter from Only Fools fame, instead of this physically imposing east London dealer.  
"And ya don't need to worry about ya gear," he continued. "After I got ya up off the street and stashed here, I went on back to ya gaff and found ya bag in the hall."  
He waved his hand in the vague direction of the area near my cot. I turned my head to see that my bag, along with the two eskrimas, was resting on the floor. I didn't realise it straight away, but slowly I began to feel myself physically relax a little. Not because I was emotionally attached to anything in the bag, but because they were dangerous in the wrong hands. Or more accurately, less informed hands. There was a family that lived down the hall from me with two little kids. If they'd started playing with some of that stuff…I shivered as I cut off that train of thought sending a quick spark of pain through my shoulder. Being deep in my revelry I hadn't realised that Reggie was still talking.  
"Course the bloody pigs kept askin' questions and….'ere, you even listening to me?"  
"Of course I am Reggie," I lied. "You did me a great favour by putting yourself out there to get my stuff back. Thank you."  
I had taken the wind out of his sails by giving him my thanks. Primarily all I did was take away a reason for him to complain.  
"Right," he said, nodding satisfaction in my direction. "I should think so too."  
I decided that I had had enough of lying down and attempted to sit up. My shoulder began to throb as the blood started pumping through it at a more regular pace. Reggie had finished stirring his concoction and was somewhat impatiently waiting for me to right myself.  
"'Ere," Reggie ordered, thrusting the beaker into my face. "Drink this. It'll give ya back some of the energy ya spent fighting that Fanger."  
Without thinking about it, I gulped down a healthy amount of the pink liquid and then immediately started to choke.  
"Christ Reggie," I spluttered in between coughs. "My god, that tastes like goblin piss!"  
"Yeah," Reggie replied. Maybe it was just me, but he looked a little too proud with himself. "It don't taste pretty, but it'll sure put some hairs on ya balls. Besides ya know, it's good stuff."  
He had me there. Already I could feel my strength returning to me bit by bit. In a couple of hours I'd be right as rain…however right that is. I've never really understood that saying.  
"Not that I'm ungrateful for you helping me heal up and everything, but do you have a spare top I can put on or something?"  
And with a simple grunt Reggie walked over to one of the many grey shelving units, took something from the second shelf down and tossed it in my direction. As it landed beside me on the cot I could make it out as a medium sized shrink-wrapped package. Unwrapping it revealed a white long-sleeved T-shirt with black tribal like designs spiralling down the sleeves. My shoulder cried in discomfort as I slipped into the top and pulled it down. I felt as if enough of my strength had returned for me to attempt to stand up. Slowly I began rising to my feet and took a little walk over to examine some of Reggie's stock. Most of these shelves where full of Tupperware boxes of all different shapes and sizes with little white description labels on each; depleted uranium, beams of sunshine, stardust, unicorn horn, frost giant eyes.  
"Reggie," I called out. "Where the hell did you get some of these things?"  
"I'm well connected," he responded. "Plus there's little shop in Camden 'at sells some good items. But enough about that, I'm more interested in what _you've_ got ya'self into."  
I turned away from the shelves and back to find Reggie leaning against his work bench with a serious dead-pan expression locked on his face.  
"For example," he continued. "Why did a blood sucker attack ya in the middle of the day? And on top of that, is what they sayin' about the Fangers true? That they stole from the White Council?"  
Ah you've gotta love the supernatural community. They do love their gossip.  
"Well that all depends. What have you heard exactly?" I answered. I didn't want to give anything away if I didn't half to. It's not that I didn't trust Reggie or anything; it's just that he's not exactly the silent type. Whether he would mean to or not, he would inevitably let slip the wrong thing to the wrong person and then everything would suddenly become dangerously more complicated. Sadly I say this from experience.  
"Everyone's buzzin' about how the Vamps have got their hands on somethin' that'll win'em the war against the Wizards." He paused briefly, his brow frowning in thought before speaking up again. "Is that why they went after ya? Because ya got something to do with it?"  
I nodded slowly.  
"So it's all true? That's the reason why everyone's scared shitless."  
"And I'm trying to make sure that whatever the Red's are planning doesn't come to fruition. So if you know anything Reggie…" I left the end of my sentence open and in the air so Reggie would hopefully volunteer some useful knowledge.  
"Well…" he said hesitantly, shifting his weight as he continued to lean against the table. "There may be somethin' I've heard from a guy who knows guys whose friends with someone that…"  
"I get the picture Reggie," I interjected. "What have you heard?"  
After a bit more weight shuffling, Reggie finally began to answer.  
"There's been people muttering, saying all kinds a things. Some let slip that a couple of big wigs in the Red Court arrived in the country two days ago. A couple o' Yankee Fangers in expensive suits, probably politicians or at least that's what I've heard."  
"Do these 'Yankee Fangers' have names?" I asked, trying hard to pry more information form Reggie.  
He shook his head. "Nah. There ain't been no mention of any names. But there's been plenty of whispers about these two being dangerous."  
I took a moment to think about that. Bringing in two power players would make sense and it also explained how they planned to get away with the charm. As I've said before, the Red Court has '_people_' in a lot of powerful places; government, law enforcement, courts of the legal kind; it's kind of like a symbol of their status within the Court. The higher you are in the Court, the higher your standing in the vanilla world of everyday life. If the rumours were true, then I'd wager they'd probably be politicians of some kind. And we Brits just love American politicians. So if our thieves passed on the charm to the out-of-towners, they would have an almost guaranteed escape route hiding behind their political credentials. This wasn't an act of opportunity; this had been planned. And planned in great detail. If my theory about the missing persons increase didn't pan out, then at the very least this gave me another path to follow.  
"I don't know all the ins 'n' outs of what you're caught up in Crane," Reggie said, halting my train of thought and drawing my attention back to him. "But what I do know is that you need to watch your arse."  
"Well it _is_ an arse worth watching." I said with a smile on my face. Reggie just rolled his eyes, letting out a frustrated sigh of annoyance.  
"Well knowing how bat shit crazy ya can be, I guess ya gonna dive in head first. If ya are then you're gonna need some help." He reached under his work bench, pulled out a carrier bag and handed it to me. I checked its contents to find three sports bottles; one small and red, another blue and the last yellow. Looking back at Reggie, I cocked an inquisitive eyebrow.  
"I brewed them while I was waiting for the swelling to go down on ya shoulder. The blue one'll give ya a temporary boost of endurance and the yellow one'll give you a resistance to the vamp spit." I nodded in recognition; Vampires from the Red Court had the ability to produce saliva with a powerful narcotic side effect. They used it to subdue their prey, making for an easier feed. In extreme cases, it wasn't unheard of for a Red Court to actually make people addicted to the narcotic effect, basically creating their own personal blood banks. I shuddered involuntarily at the thought.  
"What's in the red bottle?" I asked.  
He gave me a solemn look. "The red is just in case they fancy a bite. I hope you don't have to drink that one."  
I knew what he meant. One of the unwritten rules of hunting Vampires; don't let them take you alive.  
"Reggie I didn't know you cared so much." I joked, trying to lighten the mood.  
"I don't," he shot back with a snort. "If you die, who'll keep the Council off my back?"  
I had to smile at that. In my life I took the laughs where I could get them. After a moment I suddenly got the feeling that I needed to be somewhere.  
"Reggie what time is it?" I asked  
Reggie looked at his watch and said "Six forty five. Why?"  
"Crap. I need to be somewhere by seven. Thanks again Reggie, you've been a huge help."  
I collected my belongings up off the floor and made my way out the door. Reggie's lockup, slash place of business, was in a remote estate across town from where I needed to be, which wasn't useful. But by some divine intervention I managed to flag down a taxi as soon as I had reached the main road.  
Finally, something was going my way.


	6. Chapter 6

_**[6]**_

Seven fifteen. The evening city traffic had slowed me down and made me run late for meeting Louise (not to mention the unexpected battle with a Vampire). The cabby pulled up outside the steak house where I paid him the fare and ran for the door. As I came into the restaurant I got several strange looks from the staff; to be honest it's something I'd become used to. Being a Wizard is not a very glamorous profession. The young waitress who stood at the entrance podium didn't quite know how to react to a man frantically running through the door, cut and bruised, but she made an effort to put on her best customer service smile. I reached the podium and did a quick scan of the tables for Louise and found her sitting at a booth along the restaurant window. She was wearing exactly the same outfit that I had seen her in earlier except this time she had tied her brown hair back in a ponytail, allowing her features to be fully displayed. Louise noticed me and waved me over. I may have been imagining it, but I could have sworn that I saw the waitress physically relax a little, as if some what relieved that she didn't have to serve me.  
But like I said, maybe I was just being paranoid…again.  
Regardless of my paranoia, the waitress smiled, handed me a menu and waved me through.  
"Sorry I'm late," I said to Louise as I approached her.  
Her eyes widened as I sat down, noticing my injuries. "What happened?"  
"I guess news spread about my new assignment," I said, trying my hardest to be casual about the whole situation. I could see the worry in her eyes and it wouldn't help her if I started to fall apart. "I had an unexpected visitor when I stopped by my flat; hegot in a luck shot."  
"What happened to the other guy?" she asked.  
"Oh I'm sure he's in the wind by now," I responded and technically speaking, that's pretty accurate. "But don't worry about it. He won't be hurting anyone else."  
Slowly, Louise seemed to relax a little. She sat back and reached down grabbing up and large stack of files, each of them full, and placed them on the table.  
"Right, well, speaking of your new assignment, here's everything I've been able to find on current missing persons cases. But everything I have here," she placed her hand on top of the pile of files as she spoke. "It's out of context until I know what's going on." She kept her gaze on me as I looked down at her hand resting on the stack.  
"I know I've kept my distance from everything involving this part of your life, but if things are as bad as you say they are, then you're going to need all the help you can get. So Gabe," I looked up to briefly meet her gaze. "Tell me everything you know."  
So I did. I told her everything.  
I told her about the Council, the Wardens, the Vampires, the war and everything in between. She sat there taking in all this new information, asking only a few logical questions with the detached methodology of a trained investigator. Occasionally her tough cop shell would crack and she would let slip a micro-expression of shock or amazement, but they were so slight that you would never have known if you didn't know her. In amongst it all a waiter came and took our order, served us some drinks and eventually our food, and all the while I continued to tell Louise the whole story.  
"And so this is where I am currently," I said, finally bringing her to speed with the events of today, whilst cutting into the remaining part of my steak. "Trying to find this Icarus Charm before the Vampires can escape with it and find some way to make the entire Red Court immune to sunlight."  
Louise said nothing for a moment, sorting through all the new information in her mind, whilst taking a drink from her wine glass. She placed the glass back on the table and began sifting through the files.  
"Ok. So I looked through reports from the past forty eight hours like you asked, flagging any alerts relating to missing people." Louise said as she began to explain. "Now officially people aren't classed as actually missing until after they have been out of contact for forty eight hours, but all the potential cases are still recorded."  
"Just in case they're needed later I assume." I added.  
"Exactly. Now there were an unusually high number of calls logged in Edinburgh around the day you say this meeting went down at Hogwarts…"  
"It's not Hogwarts." I exclaimed much to Louise's amusement.  
"But from there, there is a steady stream of calls, of people filing missing person reports heading down through the country. It starts in Edinburgh, then after a break the next increase in reports looks to be from Newcastle. Then things become more rapid, with increased reports coming in from Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton, Luton and then finally a staggeringly increased amount from London."  
It's hard not to be smug when you're always right about something. And I was spot on about chasing missing person reports.  
"The thing I don't get is why did they hit the bigger cities?"  
"People disappear all the time in the big cities," I answered. "There's less chance of their vanishing act drawing attention. Smaller towns have a greater sense of community togetherness, more chance of the Vampires becoming noticed."  
Louise sat in silence for a moment looking down at the files.  
"These numbers are staggering," she finally said after a full minute. "How were they able to take this many people in such a short amount of time?"  
"It's what they do," I answered, a sickening shiver dancing down my spine. "I imagine they must have started out only taking one or two people off the street, keeping a low profile. But the more they tried to blend in and the further they were going, the more their hunger required sating. But these guys were sloppy. I mean the sheer rate of calls that flooded in this quickly, that's amateur hour behaviour. They must have been really desperate."  
I let the silence hang for a moment, allowing the picture of what I have to deal with sink in. For a minute or two Louise didn't speak, didn't even attempt to make eye contact. There was a hell of a lot of information being thrown at her, even without having the added bonus of my current troubles. I finished off the rest of my coke and once again started looking through the police reports, trying to find some sort of clue or if any sort of pattern would emerge that could lead me in the right direction. Maybe it was the day I'd had or maybe it was because I'm just not as smart as I think I am, but I just couldn't see anything. Frustration built up inside me. I was against the clock, the Vampires had a huge head start and I was no closer to finding where the bastards were than I was this morning when McCoy first told me about the Charm.  
"London City Airport."  
"What?" I said as I looked up from the stack of paper in my hands. Louise was looking at me, her features set in an expression of worry. I guess my annoyance wasn't as concealed as I thought it was.  
"London City Airport." she said again. Surprisingly, that didn't make it any clearer.  
"What about it?"  
"That's where I think you'll find them. There are a few warehouses on Hartmann road that are currently in use as storage for the airport. They're big and dark enough for them to hide away during the day. I checked through the call logs twice. Even as I was leaving the station to get here we were still getting calls from some worried parents who '_just know something is wrong'_. They all lead up to and around the area, but we haven't got any reports from beyond that side of the city."  
"It also matches up with the American Vampires that arrived the other day." I interrupted, thinking out loud. "Our group would be close enough that they could quietly pass on the Charm to our transatlantic friends and they'd be able to fly away quickly and without suspicion."  
And just like that, everything was starting to fall into place. But there was still something that bugged me and I just couldn't put my finger on it. Louise looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face.  
"Transatlantic friends?" she asked.  
"I've heard from a source that two American Vampires, possibly politicians, arrived in the country a couple of day ago."  
"A couple of days ago? You don't mean Senator Larson and his aid?"  
"You know about them?"  
"Of course I do," she responded. "I was there when they landed. I helped set up the protective detail guarding them until they leave. Are you trying to tell me that these guys are Vampires?" You couldn't miss the shock in her voice. Louise looked at me and tried to find something in my expression that told her I was mistaken or lying."  
I give her a level look, kept my tone steady and said, "You tell me. Was there sunlight when the landed?"  
Louise opened her mouth to speak but quickly closed it again. I could see in her eyes that she was filing through her memories.  
"That doesn't necessarily make them Vampires," she said. "It was just a late arrival."  
"Come one Lou. Think over everything I've just told you about the Red Court. Can you honestly say, looking back, that there was nothing about them that doesn't fit with what I have said?"  
Louise began to cycle through her thoughts, comparing them with the information I had provided her with. I sat patiently, it wouldn't have been right for me to try and pressure an answer out of her. This was all still new to Louise, she needed to work things out for herself. After a minute she slowly rested her forehead in the palm of her left hand and sighed. "Shit."  
"You didn't know." I said in the most reassuring way I knew how.  
Louise was quiet and after a moment she looked back at me, her eyes filled with anger and frustration.  
"That doesn't change the fact," she said, her voice cold and hard. "That I helped with the arrangement of protecting two monstrous lunatics."  
"Blaming yourself isn't going to change anything." I told her. "We can only act on the information that's in front of us. Just because you didn't have all of the information at the time doesn't make what you did wrong, it just means that you weren't able to make a fully informed decision. The question is now that you have all the information, what are you going to do with it?"  
She sat there in silence for a minute longer before she said, "I'm going to help stop them. That's the least I can do."  
She tried to hide it but I could hear the pain in her voice. For Louise, working for the police was more than just a job. She wanted to help people. The fact that she unknowingly let two Red Court Vampires free to do God knows what, would eat away at her and if anyone was to get hurt because of that...  
It's what made her so good at her job, she cares.  
"What can you tell me about them?" I asked, trying to get her mind focused on something other than blaming herself.  
"Senator Matthew Larson of New York and his aid Daniel Haywater. They arrived two days ago to help promote the continuing goodwill between the United States and Great Britain. From what I can remember of their itinerary, their stay is just a fancy P.R stunt. To anyone else it is just a run of the mill visit."  
"That happens to co-inside with the theft of the Icarus Charm." I added. "When are they due to leave?"  
"They fly back to America tomorrow, around seven a.m."  
I was quiet for a moment while I thought about that. They had already been in the country for a couple of days now. They had a head start on me and yet they were still here. That's what was bugging me. That was the only piece of the puzzle that didn't fit.  
"Why have the waited around?" I asked, breaking the silence.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well the American Vampires have already been here for a couple of days. They've had plenty of time to handover the Charm and get back on their jet and fly back to hide under whatever star spangled rock they crawled out from. That's the only part that doesn't make any sense."  
Louise sat back in her chair frowning, thinking about the situation. She may be a trained investigator but this was leaps and bounds outside of her comfort zone. Don't get me wrong, she was handling herself like a champ considering all the information I'd thrown at her tonight, but even still, she sat there thinking up a proverbial storm about what we could do next. What I needed was some way of keeping the Vampires grounded just a little while longer, to take away their exit strategy. Then suddenly an idea hit me, as if a light had been switched on to clear away the fog. Only problem was, Louise wasn't going to like it.  
"I have an idea but you probably won't like it." I said thinking it was only fair to pre-warn her.  
"Ok…" she responded hesitantly.  
"I need you to stall them. Find some way of keeping them on the ground."  
"Stall them?" she said, disbelief hanging on the edge of her voice. See, I said she wouldn't like it.  
"The fact that they haven't left yet bugs me, but I don't want to give them the chance to actually get away."  
"Well maybe they are still here because they have to keep up appearances." Louise suggested.  
"Maybe but I don't think so," I replied. "I think there is something big going down and this is just a small part of it."  
Louise sighed, shaking her head in admittance of defeat.  
"Ok," she said. "I'll head back to my desk put in another few hours and then say that we got a tip about a bomb scare or something to hold up any flights. I can't promise anyone will listen but I'll try."  
I reached across the table and placed my hand gently on top of Louise's.  
"That's all I can ask for. Thank you."  
She smiled back at me before grabbing her coat and bag and heading for the exit. I watched quietly as she left the restaurant and then once again began looking through the information Lou had provided. They were all detailed reports from worried and anxious family members trying desperately to find their missing loved ones. Being so drawn into the files I didn't realised that I'd clenched my right hand into a hard fist. So much so in fact, that not only had my knuckles turned white but my nails were also biting into the palm of my hand. I forced myself to calm down and my hand slowly relaxed itself. I had been fighting the Vampires for years but they still found new ways to make me sick with rage. It didn't seem to matter how many of them I killed, there was always more to fill the void I had created.  
On or off, official or otherwise, this war had gone on long enough. It was time to find a way to end it.  
But first I needed to deal with this Matthew Larson and his band of thieves.


	7. Chapter 7

_**[7]**_

Three hours till take off and I was as ready as I was going to be. I had the potions Reggie had made for me, I had my eskrimas and for extra protection, two silver rings on the first and little finger on my left hand. They had little crosses etched into them and they helped me channel my will into a defensive barrier. The only thing I was missing however was back up. I used my old rotary phone to dial the Warden's hotline. (It's not really called that, but that's essentially what it is). It rang for a full minute before someone finally picked up.  
"_Sol solis ortus_?" said a stern feminine (I guessed) voice on the other end of the phone, static creeping its way along the line. Seeing as this was a conversation on the phone between two magic users, we were lucky and we could even use the phone at all.  
"_Luna cado_." I said, praying that my memory had recalled the correct pass phrase. "This is Warden Crane, I have an urgent message for Senior Council Member McCoy."  
"I'm sorry Warden Crane but Wizard McCoy is unavailable." the uncompromising voice responded. "If you want to leave a message, I will pass it on to him when he is available."  
"No," I shot back quickly. The pitch of the static danced up and down the line as my frustration flared up. I took a deep breath to reign in my emotions and the reception became more bearable. "No, this is too sensitive to have it written down and I don't have time to wait for him. Get Captain Luccio instead."  
Not only was Luccio in charge of the Wardens, but she was the next best thing to a Senior Council Member and she would be able to send in the re-enforcements that I needed.  
"I'm afraid that is also not possible Warden Crane. Captain Luccio is currently being detained."  
"What the hell?" I spat back, once again failing to keep my feelings bottled up. "On who's order and what charges?"  
The voice returned a frustrated sigh. "By the order for Senior Council Member Cristos for inciting the threat of war during peace negotiations between the Council and the Vampires of the Red Court."  
I spat out a curse. McCoy had said things were bad, but I didn't realise the level of chaos that had befallen the Council was this severe Thinking quickly, I scanned through a list of names in my head of those who could send aid. It didn't take long as a sickening realisation hit me. I no longer knew who I could trust. I swallowed down a tumult of emotions. The fear of thinking yourself alone and the anger of denied help when you needed it most. There was a crackle on the line as I heard another voice join the conversation.  
"Warden Crane, is that you?" said a male voice spoken with enraged urgency.  
"Warden Glacier." I responded, biting down hard on a flash of irritation.  
"Crane you are ordered to cease any operation you are currently working and to return to Edinburgh immediately."  
"Sorry _sir_ but I can't do that. I have valuable intel that a band of Red Court Vampires have in their possession an item that could win them the war. I formally request that re-enforcements be sent to my position immediately."  
"Your request is denied Warden Crane. Now return to Edinburgh, do I make myself clear?"  
"But if we don't act now this could be disastrous for the Council. You need to send me those re-enforce…"  
"_Enough_!" Marcus growled, cutting me off mid-sentence. "I am your commanding officer and you _will_ follow orders. You _will_ obey me!"  
With no warning, the thunder storm of anger that had been building in my chest erupted.  
"Go fuck yourself Marcus!" I snarled and slammed the phone back down. I would be lying if I said that a part of me didn't really enjoy that. Sadly the feeling of conquest was sort lived as I remembered the situation.  
I was alone.  
I would have no backup, no support from the White Council. It was me against an unknown number of Vampires with a charm, whose abilities were also unknown. I stood in the middle of my flat as all of it sank in. Fear and anger bubbled in my chest in equal measure, fighting for supremacy against a number of other emotions. Each one as real, each one as present.  
I shook my head trying to kick start myself into gear. There was nothing I could do to get help from the Council now so there was no point in dwelling on it. I still had time to stop Larson and I still had Lou. I asked her to stall him, delay his flights. I took a couple of deep breaths, picked up the phone receiver and began dialling Louise's mobile. After thirty seconds of ringing, Louise's voice spoke up explaining that she couldn't answer the call and to leave a message. I hung up, waited a couple of minutes and tried again. It rang through to the answer message once more. This time I left a message telling her that I was heading out. I put the phone down, gathered my equipment and headed out the door. I made sure to pack Reggie's potions. They were going to come in handy, that was for sure. I left my flat and felt a sensation of uneasiness. Louise was probably busy. I mean I did ask her to bend the rules to help me so that would explain why she couldn't take my call. But even trying to rationalise it like that, something still ate away at me. I still had that feeling of uncertainty.  
"Get your head in the game Gabe!" I growled at myself. This wasn't going to help me. It was just wasting time that I didn't have. Steeling my resolve, I set off to stop the enemy.


	8. Chapter 8

_**[8]**_

Thirty minutes until take off.  
Time was running out. I had spent the last hour staking out the warehouse before hiding myself behind a car opposite the building. The doors where shut, the windows high up on the sides were covered in some sort of black paint and the airport work force where actively avoiding going anywhere near it. There was the faintest of sensations scratching at the very edges of my perception; there was definitely something magical in the immediate vicinity. My gut told me that this was the right place.  
London City airport was only a small complex, so with a little bit of magic, it had been child's play to sneak past security. What worried me was that the area wasn't peaceful. Everything was running normally.  
A couple of planes had landed and taken off in the past hour whilst I had been watching the warehouse, but that in itself was the problem. I had asked Louise to stall any planes taking off, to give me the time to confront Larson, so even this level of activity meant that something was wrong. My mind played back to me calling her mobile phone only for Lou not to answer. A sense of apprehension began to settle in the back of my mind. I did my best to push it aside so I could focus, but a little whirlpool of fear was steadily beginning to build in my stomach. Time was running out and I had to act now before it was too late. Placing my bag on the ground next to me, I reached in and grabbed hold of the blue and yellow sports bottles that Reggie had given me.  
"Blue for endurance and yellow for immunity." I said, reminding myself on the contents. "Well bottoms up."  
I popped the cap off the blue bottle and swigged it down. I felt a tingling sensation as it went down and almost instantaneously felt it going to work. The well of power deep inside me, from which I draw my magic, doubled in size and depth and immediately I felt like I could take on the world. The euphoric sensation of knowing that right now, in this instant, my will, my power could be matched by no one. I felt a little giddy from the power now running through me and without stopping to think about it, I popped the cap of the yellow sports and downed that too.  
Generally as a rule you shouldn't really follow one potion straight away with another. But on the rare occasions that you do find yourself having to do that, you should ideally wait a minute or two. The two potions collided in my stomach and immediately began reacting. It was quite a rookie mistake to make and had I not been trying my hardest not to throw up, I would have been kicking myself. I was brought down hard from my power trip. Although I could still feel all that extra power flowing through me, I had that sobering and humbling sensation of my mistake keeping me grounded. Next I retrieved my two wooden eskrimas and finally the red sports bottle. I placed the bottle into my jacket pocket and stashed the bag under the car. With a murmured word, I sent out a little effort of my will into the car, trashing the vehicle's electronics making sure it didn't go anywhere and remained a good hiding place for my stuff. Before I set off I looked up at the building and closed my eyes. A pressure built up just above the space between my eyes and then I opened my Wizard's Sight. The Sight or Third Eye as some call it, much like the Soulgaze, is an ability every Wizard has. It allows us to see the world unencumbered of natural constraints, the way it really is. The flow of universal energies, how it interacts with everything and the effects our actions make on that current of power. But also like a Soulgaze anything you see, the good, the bad or the downright terrifying, it's yours to keep.  
I turned my Sight to the warehouse, checking for magical defences or hidden enemies. Instead of finding any veiled threats, I saw a strange aura emanating from the building. I could see the physical presence of the structure but on top of that spectral flames poured forth from the building, literally spilling out of every window and door like water falling over a cliff or the tide coming in over the shore. The ghostly fire glittered in reds, yellows and oranges and danced wildly from the impact of crashing against the ground. As the falling flames rolled away from the building I could make out badly charred forms of spirits caught up in the waves of fire. Each and every one of them, silent screams etched on their faces, trying desperately to escape. I turned away, forcing my eyes closed. My Third Eye was showing me too much. With an effort of will, I pushed my Sight away and everything returned to normal. My breathing was heavy and quick. I fought to control it but it wasn't easy, crystal clear images of burnt ghosts clung tightly to my mind's eye. My stomach tried to roll right out of my mouth having already been unsettled by the mixed potions. To create that kind of spiritual carnage, something extremely powerful and inherently magical was inside the building. Now more than ever I was convinced; I had found the Icarus Charm.  
I forced my breathing to slow down and waited until I was steady again. I made sure the way was clear first and I set off towards the warehouse.  
Now despite what you may have seen in the movies, if you're trying to approach a building during daylight without drawing attention to yourself you don't run towards it whilst crouching down. What looks more suspicious, a grown man running round all bent over like the hunchback of Notre Dame or someone walking normally?  
I reversed my grip on my eskrimas so the shafts pressed against my arms in an attempt to shield them from view. Trying to act as unsuspicious and non-descript as possible, I crossed the car park. Drawing attention to myself now wouldn't help me in the long run. If I was lucky enough I would be able to sneak into the warehouse, grab the Charm, fry the bad guys and be home in time for a late breakfast.  
Yeah, I wasn't convincing myself either.  
I approached the door and tried the handle. It was locked, but there wasn't a key lock to be found on the door. Of course, fancy airports like this couldn't risk losing all their stuff because someone got fancy with a lock pick. I looked around the frame to see that just to the left of the door was some kind card swipe mechanism, a small red light indicating that I could go no further.  
Ah technology my friend, we meet again.  
Waving my hand over the electronic pad, I sent out a trickle of my will and muttered "_Hauta_." There was a burning smell and smoke swirled out from the mechanism. The red light blinked out and with a fizz of failing electrics, the door opened with a quiet clunk.  
"If only it was all that easy." I told myself as I opened the door and went through.


	9. Chapter 9

_**[9]**_

I entered the warehouse, closing the door behind me as quietly as I knew how and immediately the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. A form of power thrummed the air like strings on a guitar, a kind of energy that I had never felt before. It felt hot and heavy, as if its sheer presence could pin me down and burn me alive. I now understood a little more about what my Sight showed me. The ghostly fire that poured out from every crack and hole in the building, it was the spiritual manifestation of the power I was feeling. I began to feed some of my will to the rings on my left hand, making them ready to defend me at a moment's notice. Things were eerily silent. Despite having the runway of the airport pretty much on its doorstep, this strange place just didn't appear to fit. The silence, the darkness, the power. All of it seemed to overwhelm the building like a confined beast longing to be freed; it wanted nothing more than to tear down the walls that contained it.  
I stayed by the door while my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Slowly I could begin to make out the faint silhouettes of tall structures, shelving racks perhaps, standing to attention in ordered rows to the left and right of me. Each stack full of what looked like boxes of some description and other non-descript items; the poor lighting made it almost impossible to identify them clearly. Cautiously I moved away from the door making my way farther into the warehouse, more and more of my surrounding revealing itself as I progressed. After I passed five shelving stacks either side of me the warehouse opened up into what seemed to be an empty area. Just as I stepped out into the open space, lights flooded my vision from high up, blinding me momentarily. I shielded my eyes with my left hand, holding my defensive spell ready, until my eyes could re-adjust. Now illuminated, I could fully see the interior of the warehouse. It looked as if the whole structure should be filled with row upon row of shelving and items the airport either didn't need any more but couldn't get rid of yet or spare parts for the planes. In front of me stood a clearing about twenty foot wide and just as long, the metals units surrounding the area, gave it the facade of a gladiatorial arena. On the far side opposite me stood a man in an immaculately pressed black pinstriped suit, matching waist coat, white shirt and red tie. His black shoes shined with reflective light, almost giving them a presence of their own. His black hair was slicked back, keeping it away from his smooth facial features. A professional and dashing salesman smile stretched across his lips, promoting a sense of ease, but his eyes gave him away. Looking into his eyes I saw nothing even remotely human looking back at me. Behind him were five not so smartly dressed individuals. They all wore a combination of combats, boots and hooded jumpers of varying dark colours. Their stance was that of someone ready to respond and leap into action when prompted or commanded and all eyes were on me. Inhuman gazes fixed on me from inhuman beings.  
"Ah, the infamous Gabriel Crane I presume," said the well dressed man, his tone part practised spokesman and part telephone salesman. "I am so pleased to finally meet you."  
"I wish I could say the same." I replied trying to keep my voice steady, swallowing down my fear and nerves. "But you seem to have me at a disadvantage."  
"Oh I do," he said. "In more ways than one. But I will indulge your interpretation of the phrase and conduct a more formal introduction. I am Senator Matthew Larson. I'm visiting from the great city of New York to continue showing the world what a grand relationship we still have with those of Queen and Country."  
I quickly looked from Yankee Prime to the others standing behind him and back. Unless his aid was a great believer in dress down office days, it was a pretty safe bet to assume Yankee Two had yet to show his face. The pack where starting to get restless in the background, their weight shifting back and forth on the spot.  
"Fancy opening speech," I said. "How often have you practised that in front of the mirror?"  
I was out numbered, I knew it and Larson knew it. My only hope was to keep the Senator talking and hopefully give me enough time to think of a plan that would get me out of this in one piece.  
And alive.  
He smiled, a slight discontented laugh escaping through his lips. "Tell me, do all Wizards have such smart mouths? I have yet to meet one who hasn't always had an answer for everything."  
"It's one of the main aspects of the lessons. You know, mastering the elements, creative wise cracking and growing long breads to stroke while contemplating the former."  
"Amusing," he said as his smile turned into a spiteful smirk. He slowly began to pace back and forth in front of his pack. "Why don't we just skip all this and move on to the real reason we are all here. The real reason being that I wanted to finally meet you in person."  
"I'm flattered." I said, fighting hard to keep any nerves from registering on my expression.  
"Oh you should be," he responded. "There really aren't that many Wizards walking around that have proven to be an incessant thorn in the Red Court's ass. I know because since the beginning of this war with your kind, I have personally gutted and mutilated many who fancy themselves as some sort of Vampire hunter." The pressure of his gaze returned as he once again fixed me with a scornful glare. "I was requested to travel to this toilet you call a city to make sure a certain artefact was safely couriered to my Lord. An artefact that is said to be powerful enough that victory over your kind is assured. But to present such an item untested? Well that's as good as signing your own death warrant. What I wanted to do was to test it by removing one of the few remaining thorns from our flesh. But it seems plans have changed." He stopped pacing and faced me directly, scorn edging his gaze and hate tainting his tone. "Much to my displeasure, I am required to take the artefact directly to my Lord. That means I can't take my time enjoying your death as much as I would like."  
What disturbed me the most about his little rant? How much he seemed to really want me dead. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of people who I've come across who have wanted to kill me but I have usually had a run in or two with them first. This guy just really wanted it because he saw it as some kind of retribution, for constantly sticking it to the Red Court at every turn possible.  
For him, this was personal.  
For me, it was an idea. People who start getting personal start making mistakes.  
A smile stretched across my face. "Wow Matty, those are some intense feelings. Don't you think we should start slow? Go see a movie or something first?"  
Yankee Prime went rigid with rage. Underneath his finely pressed suit I could see something moving, the true Matthew Larson writhing around just below the surface. But then his expression changed and his face twisted into a vicious smirk.  
"A smart ass to the end. I'm just sorry I won't get to tear you apart myself. Sadly I have a rather pressing appointment to keep." He turned and started to walk away. So much for my idea. His pack looked ready to pounce.  
"I almost forgot," Larson said, he stopped and turn back to face me. "Just in case you have the crazy notion of coming after me, I have a little insurance policy. Oh Daniel."  
And right on cue, Yankee Two came out from behind a shelving unit. He was dressed in a similar fashion to his boss, a pristine and immaculate navy suit right down to the shiny shoes. His blonde hair was cut short with the front flicked up and held in place with gel. His expression was the exact counterpart to Larson's, all serious with no bells and whistles. He was there and had a job to do, no more, no less. Daniel shuffled over to his boss dragging someone with him. My heart dropped.  
That someone was Louise.  
Her lower lip had been split open and a purple coloured bruise was starting to form around her right eye. Yankee Two pinned one arm behind her back and had this free hand gripped tightly around her throat. The expression on her face conflicted between fear, defiance and anger as she continued to struggle uselessly against her stronger captor. My blood began to boil in a sea of rage that threatened to come pouring out in a violent exhibition of my will.  
"I won't insult you with the details of the situation," Larson called. "I'm sure you understand them perfectly, but I would hate for this to get lost in translation. You follow me, she will die."  
He once again turned to walk away but I felt my mouth curl into a wolfish grin and just started laughing. I couldn't help it, it just came bubbling out and it stopped Prime dead in his tracks. He spun back to face me, pure disdain twisting his features, teeth showing in a fierce sneer.  
"Oh Matty boy," I said, starting to get a grip on my laughter. "I don't know how they do things on your side of the pond, but over here?" My laughter stopped completely as I looked him dead in the eye. "Here, you don't piss off a Wizard."  
Larson's rage overwhelmed him. His lips peeled back from this teeth and he snarled, "Kill him. Now!"  
With the order barely given, the pack sprang into action, tearing free of their flesh masks and revealing the grotesque creatures underneath. Giant, flabby, black bat like monsters, drool dripping from their mouths, their tongues lashing out ready to feel flesh pressed against them. They ate up the distance between us quickly, but I had been ready. I had been building up my will and I infused it with all my anger, all my fear, reaching into the well of power that had been expanded by Reggie's potion and channelled it all into the rod held tightly in my right hand. Like predators pouncing on their prey, they all leaped into the air and I slammed the end of my rod into the ground crying "_Talar'ehta_!"  
Power surged out into the stone floor beneath me. The ground shook as spears of granite shot out from the floor, rising at least ten foot high and struck the attacking Vampires, the spikes piercing their bodies. My aim couldn't have been any more on target as I looked up to see my adversaries impaled on the resulting manifestation of my will. Howls of pain and agony filled the air from the only Vampire still alive. I rose to my feet, wobbling a little from the amount of energy I poured into the spell. Out of all the forms of elemental magic, earth magic is the most demanding and draining form there is. Unlike other types of evocation, like fire and air where you are conjuring them to life from the spell you've created in your mind, with earth magic it's about sending out your will and reshaping what's already there in front of you. On any normal day there is no way I would have led with that kind of spell, but with Reggie's potion coursing through me I felt like I could take on the world.  
Slowly I took a step towards the rocky spikes that had impaled the coming wave of Vampires. The sole survivor flailed helplessly to free itself. The stone had pierced it through the stomach, rupturing its blood sack. It was dying slowly and in pain. I walked around to the left of the spikes and it tried to grab me but I was outside its reach. I stepped out to find Larson and his aid, still holding onto Louise, staring out at me. Larson's features where a mixture of shock coupled with anger and Daniel just couldn't seem to nail down an emotion to settle on. It was almost as though I could see the thoughts racing through his head. Once again a wolfish smirk spread across my features as I raised the rod in my right hand, pointed it at the dying Vampire and said "_Runya_!" A lance of fire as thick as my wrist shot out from the end of the eskrima and blew a hole just as wide into the Vampires head. There was a brief cry of surprised agony that quickly gurgled away into nothingness. The aid's eyebrows shot up so high they looked like they were trying to hide in his blonde hairline.  
"As I was saying," I said as I slowly stalked towards my friend and her captors. "You don't piss off a Wizard. You never know what he's capable of."  
"_Fine_," Larson snarled, spitting with rage. "We'll find out what you can do as I tear you limb from limb!"  
He removed his jacket, throwing it to the side and seemly ripped his tie away from his neck.  
"B-but sir," Daniel stuttered, "We must get the Charm to our Lord. The Red King will..."  
"Fuck the Red King!" Larson roared in response, his body practically trembling with anger and hatred. "No one will keep me from dealing with this Wizard and crushing him like the insect he is."  
I looked at him and smiled. "Buzz, buzz."  
He let out a howl so primal that no human throat should be able to make, but then again, he wasn't human. Larson charged at me, dizzyingly quick but straight at me. I aimed my eskrima, poured my will into the weapon for a massive strike and shouted "_Runya_!" I called forth more fire, this time in a wide column, and it shot across what little space there was left between Larson and me. It hit him like a molten steam train and resulted in a mini explosion. The heat from the back draft was so intense that I had to lift my arms up to shield my face. After a couple of exaggerated seconds the light from the detonation faded and I lowered my arms. I was breathing heavily, beginning to feel weariness creeping over my body. The potion was starting to wear off and the seemingly infinite well of power inside me was drying up. I looked into the smoke, trying to see what was left of Larson and my stomach dropped, catapulting my heart into my throat. Matthew Larson, the Senator from New York stood there without a single scratch on him. Even his clothes were completely unaffected by the fire of my spell. Scorch marks littered the ground mere inches in front of him. A sinister laugh began to bubble out from his throat as he reached under the neck line of his shirt and produced something hanging around his neck. From what I could see it was a miniature golden idol of a person on their knees, its little face stretched out in a ghostly scream, similar to those of the spirits being washed away by the flaming tides, and wings spread out behind him.  
He was wearing the Icarus Charm.  
"If that's all you're capable of," he said with a barely contained, menacing glee. "This should be over quicker than I thought."  
Oh crap!


	10. Chapter 10

_**[10]**_

Quickly I tried to gather my will for another spell but before I knew what was happening Larson had closed the gap between is and was standing directly in front of me, one hand wrapped tightly around my throat. His eyes had turned completely black. Looking into them was like staring down into a deep well, the darkness seemingly never ending.  
"I am going to enjoy this." He snarled, leaning in even closer to me.  
"Sorry arsehole," I croaked, fighting to squeeze the words out from his tightening grasp. "But I don't kiss on a first date."  
His head reeled back slightly, is if I had just slapped him around the face. It quickly passed as a growl of pure hatred bubbled from his throat and he roared "_Die_!"  
His grip around my neck constricted briefly and I thought my head was about to pop. But instead of pressing harder, Larson took a hold of my leather jacket's collar with his other hand, took a step back planting his feet and in one swift motion spun around, taking me along for the ride and he threw me. I sailed through the air for what seemed like hours, colliding heavily with items high up on one of the shelving stacks and continued going, hitting the stack behind it. Pain exploded through my back upon impact and spread out to the rest of my body. The force of the impact caused the metal frame of the unit to squeal in protest but it didn't quite tip over. Instead I fell to the concrete floor, in between the two shelving stacks and landed with a thud. My head hit the ground and stars flooded my vision for a second or two. Somewhere in the background my senses registered a female voice screaming out my name. There were other noises, but it all sounded too distant, too faint for my brain to process, at least until it had stopped rattling around inside my head. Another primal howl pierced through the haze, clearing the way for the sound of screeching metal. I looked up in time to see the shelving unit that I had passed through only a moment before, begin to topple over. Instinct took over and I rolled myself toward the falling metal frame, passing underneath the lowest shelf and clear from any plummeting debris. My brain had started rebooting, taking stock of my current standings highlighting that at some point between being used as a human wrecking ball and rolling around on the floor I had dropped both of my eskrimas. All that left me with was the two defensive rings on my left hand and the red sports bottle Reggie had given me. The red bottle was for last resorts only, when there were no other moves to make. But I wasn't out for the count yet. I was still breathing and I was still standing...just. I had to keep fighting. Not only to defeat Larson and retrieve the charm, but I had to save my friend, I had to save Louise. She had been dragged into this because of me, because I asked her to overcome her fears and help me track these monsters down. She had trusted me enough to step outside the safety of everything she had known and now she was being held and used as a bargaining chip against me. I wasn't going to let her down. I wasn't going let her be harmed by these bastards.  
By pure stubborn determination I started to climb back up to my feet. My instincts screamed at me again. Quickly I ran power through the defensive rings and brought up a magical barrier in the shape of an invisible dome. Not even half a second later, out of the corner of my eye I saw Larson come flying at me. I raised my shield and he collided with it, circles of white light rippling through the dome from the impact. Instead of trying to directly block his attack, I rolled back using his own momentum to carry him over and deflected the attack. He let out a surprised cry and Larson went crashing into the pile of twisted metal that I had nearly been crushed by. I took a quick second to get back to my feet and re-orientated myself. I saw one of my eskrimas laying on the floor only a couple of feet away and went straight for it. I could hear Larson was already starting to recover as he let out another howl of rage, beginning to move the debris away from him. I retrieved my eskrima from the floor in time to see Larson rise up from his crash site. Without wasting time I levelled the rod and cried "_Beleg Sul_!"  
A torrent of wind rose from the end of my rod, blowing up dust and metal and wood. As I have said before, Vampires from the Red Court are the nastiest flavour of Vampire out of all the Courts. My spell wouldn't do much against Larson other than knock him about and he would recover from the blow very fast. This was why I didn't aim my spell at him. Instead I reached out with my will to collect up everything else around him. Bits of broken metal and splintered wood flew up towards my quarry. He simply batted them away with contemptuous effort and slowly started to walk towards me. I began to pour more of my will into the spell, focusing on the air around us to come to my aid. The wind picked up and more and more bits of debris and ruined metalwork started to come lose. Larson's pace faltered as the pressure of my attack grew and larger items soared at him. He snarled with rage once again, attempting to fight his way towards me. I poured more and more energy into my spell, giving it everything I had left. The strain of keeping the spell going was getting to me. A pressure was building in my head, my knees where shaking and I had to use both my hands on the rod to keep it steady, but even that was becoming too difficult. Larson was starting to accumulate speed despite the virtual tornado being thrown at him. Still I kept pouring my will into the spell but the strain was becoming too much and I dropped down to one knee. A menacing smile crept its way across Larson's lips. He knew I couldn't keep this going for much longer. Damnit! I knew one day that someone was going to have my number; that I was going to bite it in battle. I had come too damn far to fail now, but there wasn't much left to give, I couldn't keep this spell going, I couldn't get myself out of this mess.  
I couldn't help Lou.  
Out of the corner of my eye I could see Daniel the aid off to one side, Louise still held firmly in his grasp. I could see the worry in her face, the desperation to free herself from her captor and help me. Our eyes met briefly and something in her expression changed. She gave me a slight nod and a small smile. She was willing me to keep on fighting, to not give up. She still had faith in me. She trusted that I would get us out of this and that everything would be ok. She still had hope.  
And that was all I needed.  
I fought to return to my feet, my will still unleashing a gale. Larson stopped for a heartbeat, surprised by my sudden comeback. I locked my sights firmly on my adversary, gritted my teeth and with a roar of defiance I took that hope and Louise's faith in me and threw it right down his throat. The gale increased immeasurably. Crates lifted off the ground, parts from the metal shelving ripped themselves free and it all went straight for Larson. He managed to side step a couple of small wooden boxes but it wasn't at his usual speed. He was still fighting back against the gale and he was only just able to get out of their way. A corner of the shelving unit came at him and clipped him on his left shoulder. He growled in pain as the impact caused him to lose his footing, spinning him around. He spun back to face me just in time for a medium sized metal crate to collide with the right side of his face. The force of the blow was enough to take him clean off his feet and send him spiralling away with the rest of the debris caught up in the torrent of air. He cried out in agony as he was continually struck by the flotsam whirling around with him until he crashed into the back wall. I held on for a heartbeat longer, making every second and every impact count, and then released the spell. The wind died down, dropping all the bits of wreckage from the air with varying degrees of impact. I fell to my knees, breathing heavily, fighting back the exhaustion trying to spread all over me. I wanted to fall asleep for a week and not get up for a week after that. As the last fragments of ruined metal work and crates hit what was left of the shelving units, silence began to spread across the interior of the building. The only sounds were my laboured breathing and Daniel the aid shuffling nervously on the spot, still holding onto Louise. I looked over to him and he froze in place, seemingly held there by my ice cold glare. Using my eskrima as leverage, I heaved myself back up to my feet. As luck would have it, my other eskrima was only a couple of inches to my left. I reclaimed it and slowly began to walk over to Daniel. Although he fought to keep his cool in front of me, his eyes where singing a completely different song. He was unsure of himself, of what to do next without being given orders. He wasn't a leader. That was Larson's role. To him Larson was the pack leader; no one could challenge him and expect to live to see another nightfall. He hung on Larson's reputation of slaying dozens of Wizards. To him, Larson was unbeatable.  
And he had just witnessed me toss his boss half way across a warehouse and bury him under a pile of rubble. And I was still standing...well, sort of.  
Truth was I didn't have much left in the tank. If Daniel decided to come after me, there wasn't much I could do to stop him. But it doesn't pay to let them see you sweat. You show a predator weakness and they will tear your throat out.  
So I stared at him hard, letting him know that he was the sole attention of my focus. My steps echoed from the ground up and throughout the structure. Each step deliberate, each step with a purpose. Predator had become prey as I slowly stalked towards Daniel the aid and his captive.  
He feared me.  
Suddenly there was a shriek of metal against metal as something in the wreckage began to move. We all turned to look as large sections of scrap heaved up and fell away to reveal Larson, or rather what was left of his flesh mask, rising up. The right side of his face, where the crate and hit him, had been torn away to show a glimpse of the monster beneath the surface. His expensive suit had been left in tatters as a result of being assaulted by flying debris. Huge sections of flesh had been ripped clean off without a single smear of blood, just the black leathery skin of his true nature showing through. He let out a howl of rage and cast his inhuman gaze upon me.  
"Oh come _on_!" I sighed as I once again focused on Larson.  
Within a heartbeat, there was a blur of motion and the Vampire had what was left of his hands wrapped around my throat and squeezed, lifting me up off the floor. He looked down at me with a wrathful glee in his black eyes. Stars began to swim across my vision and it was getting harder and harder to get any air in my lungs.  
"_That's it_," he snarled. "_Die_!"  
My chest was on fire, desperately in need of the oxygen it was being deprived of. My vision was starting to blur and it was becoming nearly impossible to keep struggling. I could feel a darkness coming over me and everything began to fade as I sagged down to the floor.  
_This is it_, I thought to myself.  
But then a flash of something gold cut through the haze and my vision sharpened onto a single item swinging free in front of my face; the Icarus Charm. It was still hanging around his neck. Feebly I reached up to try and grab it but my strength was fading quickly.  
"_Die_," Larson screamed. "_Die like the insect you are_!"  
In a last ditch effort, I dug down deep with everything I had left and croaked, "Buzz...Buzz."  
I grabbed a hold of the Charm, planted both my feet on his stomach and with all the strength I could muster in my legs, kicked him away. As the chain broke, so too did the charms enchantment and Larson cried out in pain, falling to the floor as the built up energy of the charm was released. As he fell back, he lost his grip on my throat; the sudden intake of air was near euphoric, my lungs couldn't get enough of the stuff. I retrieved one of my eskrimas from the ground beside me and scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could. The remaining power began to fade away and Larson's cries had died down to merely growling menacingly. He managed to get himself to his knees and once again locked eyes with me.  
"_I'm going to kill you_," he spat. "_I'm going watch yo_..."  
I didn't want to hear what else he had to say. I jammed the end of my eskrima into his mouth, poured every last scrap of will I could pull together into the weapon and snarled "_Runya_!"  
Fire lashed out from the end of my rod and his head exploded into fleshly, rubbery chunks. The rest of his body fell limply to the ground, his legs twitched a couple of times before becoming deathly still. Silence ruled the moment. I stood triumphant over my adversary, the instrument of my will, my eskrima, that had delivered the killing stroke held tightly and firmly in my grasp.  
The day was mine. I had won.  
I heard the scuffing of feet off to my left and saw Daniel the aid looking on in disbelief. His grip on Louise was loosening as doubt clouded his every evaluation of the situation. I could see in his face that he didn't know what to do next. I had just killed his indomitable leader. I'd seen Daniel's type before, the loyal second in command. Only knowing existence from one order to the next.  
"Daniel," I said as I slowly moved towards him. "You're going to want to let go of my friend now."  
His nervous gaze looked from me to the motionless, headless corpse that had been his boss and then back to me again. He looked at Louise and then nearly jumped out of his skin letting her go. She stumbled a little as Daniel released her, but she quickly found her footing and then ran over to me. She took up a place to my left, gave me a brief nod indicating that she was ok and touched my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze of reassurance. We both turned our attention back to the last Vampire standing and he visibly flinched under the weight of our collective glare.  
"This is what's going to happen now." I said, keeping my voice steady and as devoid of emotion as could manage. "I am going to let you live. When night falls, you are going to run back to your Red King and you are going to tell him that this city is under my protection. You are going to tell him if any Vampire dares to tread within its limits, they are dead. If they even so much as look at this city on a map in the wrong way, they are dead."  
Daniel reacted as if the cold harshness of my tone were physical blows to his head. Each word driving him back one step at a time until he could go no further, his back pressed hard against the buildings wall. "London is off limits as of this moment. Now go, crawl away and don't let me lay eyes on you ever again."  
And with that, I turned my back on him and walked away, Louise falling into step behind me. We left the warehouse, slamming the door behind us and leaving Daniel the aid with nothing to do but think about what had transpired and the message I had left him to deliver.  
This is my home. All supernatural predators beware, you mess around in this city and you'll have to deal with me.  
Who am I?  
I'm Gabriel Crane.

_**[Epilogue]**_

We headed over to the car where I'd hidden my backpack when the exhaustion hit me like a truck. My legs became rubbery, suddenly unable to take my weight and I toppled over. However Louise was there to catch me. She supported me until I could get my legs back to their natural state and consistency. After a moment, I got my appendages back under control and was able to stand on my own. I looked up to see Louise staring at me, her expression soft yet serious. Like something important was on her mind but it was something that made her feel at ease. Neither of us said anything for a full minute. The world around us continued with its busy and frenzied life, but not for the two of us.  
"So," I coughed, breaking the silence. "Is this the part where the gallant hero gets the girl?"  
She levelled me with a steady glare, smiled and the punched me playfully on my left arm. I winced, the aches and pains of the fight starting to play up for my attention.  
"You just had to ruin the moment, didn't you?" she said but she was still smiling.  
"Was just making sure that you weren't going to go all soft on me," I told her. "Besides, I did just rescue you from a gang of supernatural monsters. That tends to make some people deeply appreciative of their rescuer."  
She laughed quietly, bowing her head to look nervously at her feet, but her expression changed to something more placid and said "In all seriousness, thank you."  
Louise looked back up to me and spoke softly "After I was taken, after I saw what those..." she paused. She was replaying the events in her mind, trying to find a way to dispassionately categorise what she had seen. "Those things really looked like, I mean I know you told me about them and I thought I was prepared. But actually seeing it, right in front of me? I was frightened. I was scared out of my mind, but then you came." She placed her left hand softly on my cheek. It was a warm and reassuring gesture. "And all that fear went away. I knew you would stop them and that you wouldn't give up until I was safe." She paused once again, taking in a deep breath before continuing. "I know I told you in the past that there was no place for me in your world, that I didn't belong there. But after seeing the things you can do and truly knowing what is out there, I understand now that I was wrong. I was a fool to try and ignore it and pretend that it didn't affect me. To ignore what you had to face on a daily basis."  
"What are you trying to say?" I asked gently.  
"What I'm trying to say," she answered. "Is that there won't ever be a place for me in your world if I don't try to make one."  
For once I was lost for words. But right now words were immaterial to what I wanted to do. I leaned forward a little, lowering my mouth towards hers. Her breathing quickened and our lips were barely a hairs width apart.  
"You're going to have to shelve those thoughts till later kid." A rough voice spoke up from behind us, completely pulling Louise and me away from the moment. We looked around to find Ebenezar McCoy standing there with an expectant, yet impressed expression fixed on his features. "We've got more pressing matters that need to be dealt with."  
"Ebenezar?" I responded in surprise, a hint of annoyance flavouring my words. I mean, come on. Could he have chosen a worse time to appear out of nowhere? "The Vampires here have been dealt with. I have regained possession of the Icarus Charm," I said, holding up the small pendent to show him. "Good guys win again."  
"Yes I know." He said.  
"You know?"  
"Yeah, saw the whole thing. Not bad kid."  
"Wait, so let me get this straight," I said, frustration and disbelief welling up inside me. "You saw the whole fight, saw me getting tossed around, nearly killed and didn't think to lend me a hand?"  
"I knew you could handle the situation," he answered. "But the others needed to be sure."  
"What others? What the hell is going on here?"  
Ebenezar shot me a level look and then suddenly nearly a dozen figures appeared out of nowhere from behind a vale. Louise tensed up beside me, startled by the new arrivals. Hell I didn't even know they were they either. There was no mild build up of energies or subtle stirring of magic. Magic like that was so far beyond my abilities that I couldn't even begin to describe how it was done.  
I studied them, quickly taking in the details. Ten figures, all dressed in grey robes and cloaks, their hoods pulled up over their heads, most of their faces hidden beneath its shadow and each of them holding a Wizard's staff. I looked back to Ebenezar and for the first time realised that he too wore a grey robe and had a grey cloak draped over his shoulders.  
"Here kid." Ebenezar said, stepping forward and underarm tossed something to me.  
I caught and unravelled it. Another grey cloak.  
"I already have a Warden's cloak sir." I responded confused.  
"This isn't for the Wardens Gabe." he said. His expression was set in stone cold certainty. "This is for something far more important."  
One of the hooded figures to Ebenezer's right stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.  
"It is time." Said a deep masculine voice, he had a sense of urgency to his tone. I couldn't see much of the man's face because of the hood, but what I could make out was that he had a lightly shaded beard, possibly white, a strong jaw line and what looked like a strap of some kind running down and round his cheek. An eye patch maybe? Ebenezar looked at the figure and nodded his head in response. He turned back to me and said "Say your goodbyes Gabe, we need to go. Now put that cloak on and get over here."  
I think somewhere my brain must have shorted out and went back to its default settings. I had no idea what was going on, but Ebenezar gave me an order and I went along with it, falling back into the role of the good soldier. I put the grey cloak on and turned to face Louise who was still standing behind me. I could see in her eyes that she was trying furiously to make sense of the situation and coming up empty handed.  
"Gabe what the hell in going on?" she asked. Her eyes searching mine for an answer.  
"I have no idea," I answered honestly. "But my gut is telling me this is something serious and that I need to go with them." I reach out and held Louise's hands in mine.  
"I am coming back." I said, reassuring her. "And when I do, you and I are going to finish that conversation."  
She looked up at me and I smiled back at her. It took her a moment but she returned the smile and gave me quick and confirming nod.  
"You better get your arse back to me." Louise said and then she kissed me on the cheek. It felt warm and natural and more importantly it felt right. I gave her hands a gentle squeeze before letting go and joining the others.  
"Alright, everyone form up." Ebenezar called, pulling the hood up other his head. I followed suit and settled into place beside his right hand man. The hooded figure turned to look at me and I could clearly see now his white beard and the lower part of an eye patch. He smiled at me and put his hand on my shoulder. There was a sudden jolt, like a static shock, that ran the length of my body and in an instant the fatigue and weariness that had been threatening my joints with collapse was gone. The aches and pains where still there, but they were a distant feeling, like the battle had happened weeks ago and I was fighting fit once more. My breathing quickened for a moment, purely from surprise, and I fought to get it back under control, doubling over and resting my hands on my knees.  
"He good to go?" I heard Ebenezar call over his shoulder.  
"Almost," came the reply from the bearded second. He held out his arm, his hand open with the palm facing up and uttered something under his breath. A flash of green light streaked from the tip of his staff and blossomed into a bright swirling orb that hovered above his outstretched palm. The light began to shift and the sphere started to warp, changing size and shape until it stretched out and solidified into a long staff of white wood. Runes blazed into existence along the length of the shaft, etching their power into the stave. Casting a one eyed gaze over his handy work, McCoy's second tossed the newly forged staff to me. I checked its weight and balance; it was a work of art and I couldn't help but smile as I nodded my readiness to Ebenezar.  
"Good," the old Wizard nodded back in reply. "Now let's get this show on the road."  
The bearded figure held up his staff and a ball of green lightning crackled from its end. There was a blinding flash of light, all my senses were over loaded, and I couldn't hear, see or smell anything. A gentle current started flowing through me, like my whole body was vibrating. It lasted for all of a second, but it felt like hours. When my wits returned to me I found myself, along with the group, standing in an open plain. The moon was high and oppressive in the night sky, a dramatic back drop for what looked like a giant Mayan temple.  
Then it suddenly dawned on me...we were surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of Red Court Vampires. Ebenezar raised his staff up high and bellowed, "Remember Archangel!"  
McCoy uttered a spell under his breath and a whole section of the temple just exploded. Fragments the size of cars rained down upon those unlucky enough to have been beneath it. Inhuman screams filled the air, the cries of agony were almost deafening.  
Holy crap.  
The sudden and violent act of destruction brought everyone to a standstill, like someone had hit the pause button, and then all eyes were on us.  
This job, this life has taken me to some strange places, but I had most definitely left the frying pan and I was now neck deep in the fire. This was what it had all been leading up to. All the skirmishes, all my missions, this was the culmination of a war ten years long. I always said that if I lived to see this day, I would go down swinging.  
"Batter up you bastards." I said to myself.  
Someone screamed.  
The Vampires charged us.  
This was going to be one hell of a fight.

_**[End]**_

**_*Author's_ note***  
I hope people enjoyed reading this. I have already started working Gabriel Crane's next adventure 'War of the Fallen' which I'm hoping will be a lot longer. Please let me know what you think, good or bad, as it is all part of the learning process. Thanks for reading.

**The moral right of the author has been asserted**

**All rights reserved.**  
**No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior permission in writing of the publisher.**


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